Transmutation: A Love Hina Story
by ThunderCloudWalker
Summary: Keitaro's crafty grandmother, Hina, has gotten her youngest son to move into Hinata House with Keitaro and the girls. What is she plotting? And what changes will her scheming bring about to her beloved family of misfits? (Chapters 1-7 revised).
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creative property of Ken Akamatsu and his associates. Any new characters not included in the original manga or the anime (written by Shō Aikawa) are my own creative property.

**Transformation: A Love Hina Story**

Chapter One (Revised):

It was a beautiful mid-December morning in the town of Hinata Hot Springs. The early morning sun slowly burned away the last grey, tattered shreds of sea-fog, exposing a high, treed hillside overlooking the small coastal suburb of Tokyo. As the mist dissolved into the warming air, Hinata House appeared. The normally white walls with purple trim glowed with a beautiful rose color in the crisp morning light. As the sunlight crawled down the structure and finally struck the entryway, the front door suddenly slammed open and a terrified Keitaro Urashima came bailing out of the building, closely followed by a figure dressed in red and white.

"URASHIMA!" yelled an angry Motoko Aoyama. "You disgusting pervert! How dare you yank my clothes off!" She raised her katana above her head and then, with a flashing glint of sunlight on steel; she swiftly slashed the sword downwards again. "Secret technique: Air Splitting Sword!" Motoko yelled.

Keitaro screamed, "Wait! It was an accident. I can explain!" Abruptly, an almost invisible, rolling ball of ki energy slammed into him. It picked him up, shook him like a rag doll, and then it launched him in the general direction of downtown Hinata Hot Springs.

"Motoko!" said an arriving Naru Narusegawa. "Did you catch the pervert?"

Motoko nodded her head. "Yes, and he has been properly punished for his transgressions. Urashima needs to be taught that he cannot abuse the residents here!"

"Good! Let's head back… Shinobu should have breakfast ready shortly."

…In other words, it was the start of a normal day at Hinata House.

"Aw, Crap!" Keitaro muttered as he landed in a heap on the sidewalk in front of the train station. He sat up and then shook his head. A small bandage had mysteriously appeared on middle of his forehead. After resting for a moment, he picked himself up and then dusted himself off. With a sigh, he began walking back towards the dormitory. _Why do these things keep happening to me?_ he thought unhappily. _It's always the same. I trip. I fall. A skirt comes down and I go flying again. Sometimes, I could just scream._

As he walked along the winding street, Keitaro rubbed the back of his head while pondering his situation. He had been the manager at the Hinata Inn for a while now, but he was not seeing much in the way of an improvement with how the girls were treating him. Granted, they were no longer actively trying to get rid of him and Naru was actually helping him to study, but they still seemed pretty "hair-triggered" when it came to pounding on him. It didn't help that he was naturally clumsy, which he figured was responsible for about half of the incidents. The other half was a combination of either misperception or active sabotage by a certain foxy lady or by one of her blond associates.

The trouble was that he just didn't know how to change things for the better. And while he wasn't always happy about the ways things often happened, he at least understood the way they worked and he had learned to live with it… no matter how painful it sometimes could be.

He glanced up as a barely visible shooting star streaked across the morning sky, a narrow trail of dark smoke following along behind it.

_I wish that I could find a way to improve my lot in life, and my relationship with the girls!_

When he finally arrived at the base of the long flight of stone steps leading up to the old inn, Keitaro noticed a figure wearing dark clothing, which seemed to be sneaking through the wooded area near the front of the property. Before Keitaro could call out to the figure, it hopped down on to the sidewalk and hurried away.

Keitaro watched the person rapidly vanishing down the street and then he shook his head. _Whatever!_ he thought to himself. He took a last look over his shoulder and then he started the long climb up to the inn.

When he finally made it back to Hinata House, he found that the young cook, Shinobu Maehara, had finished preparing the breakfast and was starting to lay it out on the dining table. Naru and Motoko were already seated in their usual places, and Mitsune Konno (a.k.a.: Kitsune – the Fox) was stumbling into the dining room, followed by a sleepy-eyed Sarah McDougal.

He was just taking his seat at the table, when Kaolla Su came bounding into the room.

"Hi ya's, everyone! She called happily as she landed on her chair. She was just reaching for the food when Motoko lightly tapped her on the head.

"Su, you know you have to wait for everyone else before you begin eating," Motoko reminded her.

"Awww, but I'm hungry and everyone's already here," Su whined. "Let's eat!"

Shinobu was placing a final platter of scrambled eggs on the table. She looked at Su and stated, "Haruka will be joining us for breakfast today, Su, and she isn't here yet. Be patient." She looked around at her other roomies and said, "Haruka said that she has something important to discuss with us this morning."

"Did Aunt Haruka say what she wanted to talk about," Keitaro asked. He jumped as a voice suddenly spoke behind his head.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Just call me Haruka!" Haruka Urashima stated in an annoyed tone of voice.

He sweat-dropped as a folded fan suddenly appeared before his eyes. It shifted back and forth menacingly a few times in front of his face before re-vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. Rubbing the back of his head, he said. "Heh, sorry about that!"

As soon as everyone was seated and the food was passed around, Su immediately started shoveling food into her face; while the others began eating at a more leisurely pace. After finishing a bite of rice Keitaro said, "So, Au-… I mean Haruka... What did you want to talk about?"

"I had a long talk with Grandma Hina on the phone last night," she replied after setting down a piece of the toast that she was nibbling upon. "She wanted me to tell you all that my younger brother is going to be staying here at Hinata House. Grandma didn't say when he will be arriving."

"Huh?" Keitaro exclaimed. "Uncle Adam is going to be staying here? I just talked with him on the phone a few days ago and he didn't mention anything about it."

"I don't think he knew about it then," Haruka replied. "From what Grandma was saying, I gather that it was a sudden decision."

Of course, this news ignited a firestorm among some of the female tenants (the usual suspects). There was much yelling and waving of hands, mixed with comments about "more perverted males!"

CRACK! Haruka slapped the palm of her hand down on the table. "Enough!" she shouted. Suddenly there was a shocked silence. "This is one topic that is not open for debate. I understand your feelings and concerns, but Grandma Hina wants him to move into here for a while, for reasons I won't go into right now, and she won't be changing her mind. He also has every right to be here. This is his family home. You'll just have to deal with it."

"I still don't see why Grandma Hina would allow a man to stay here!" Naru grumbled quietly to herself.

Shinobu raised her hand. "Um, Haruka," she said hesitantly. "I don't think I've heard of the name of Adam before. Is it a foreign name?"

Haruka nodded at the young girl. "Adam was adopted into our family," she said. "It is an Urashima family tradition that when a married couple has produced all of the natural children that they want, they will often adopt a carefully selected child. This adds new blood to the line and keeps the family strong. For instance, Keitaro has a younger sister who was adopted by his parents. This is a tradition not only in the Urashima family, but in some of the other older families as well. Right, Motoko."

Motoko nodded her head in agreement. "I have a younger cousin named Setsuna, who was adopted into a sept of the Aoyama clan. There are others as well."

Haruka continued, "In this case, Grandma Hina had been very good friends with Adam's family and she was also his godmother. When his parent's died in a traffic accident, Grandma adopted him. He is an American by birth, but his natural family's name also happens to be Urashima. One of his great-grandparents was an Urashima from our branch. So he is a member of our family both by adoption and by blood."

"I still don't like the idea of having a strange male living here," Motoko grumbled under her breath.

Haruka smiled at her. "Actually, Motoko, he isn't a total stranger to you. You may not remember it, but you've already met him."

"I don't recall the meeting," Motoko said in a puzzled voice.

"You met him last summer: on the morning after we performed that play at the beach. If you will recall, there was a young man who came into the beachside teahouse and sat at one of your tables. You talked with him for several minutes, then you came and got me and I talked with him for a while," Haruka said. "Do you remember? That was Adam. He has a tendency to appear in unexpected places."

Motoko thought back to that day. She remembered the incident very well. A tall, young man with brown hair and hazel eyes (of mixed Japanese and Western descent) had entered the café, his eyes tracking around the room. Su, who was acting as hostess, had seated him in Motoko's section. When she asked him for his order, he had requested an iced tea and a pastry. He told her that he had seen the play the evening before and that he had enjoyed it very much. He then told her that he had especially enjoyed her performance as the Water Demon (causing her to blush) and asked her if she would please pass his complements on to the other cast members. Then he asked to speak with Haruka. He and Haruka had talked happily together for about twenty minutes. After they were done, the man had quietly disappeared, leaving a nice tip behind. _So that was Adam,_ she thought.

"I've met him too," Sarah chimed in. "He's knows my Daddy. He's not a dork like Keitaro," she said while giving Keitaro a mean little look.

Haruka finished eating her breakfast while the girls talked quietly amongst themselves. When she was done, she excused herself and left to open her teahouse for the day.

After breakfast the girls headed for the hot springs. Keitaro decided to get a jump on his studying. There would be a practice test held at the prep school in a couple of days and he wanted to be ready. He managed to get in several hours of studying before it was time for lunch. He did pretty well with his history and science questions, but the math and English were still a struggle.

Keitaro was the last to arrive in the dining room. He wasn't usually the most observant person in the world, but he could definitely feel some extra tension in the air. As soon as his butt hit the seat of his chair, the residents began quietly eating their lunch.

"This curried rice is delicious," Keitaro commented to Shinobu after a minute or so. The silence was starting to get to him.

Shinobu looked up from her meal and began to blush. "Thank you, Sempai."

"But the next time you should use more curry powder," Su chimed in with a big smile. Everyone chuckled at the foreign girl and the mood was broken.

Slowly conversation started to pick-up amongst the residents.

Shinobu looked at Sarah. "Hey, Sarah," she began. "You said this morning that you've met Keitaro's uncle. What is he like?"

The room suddenly got quiet again.

Sarah put a finger on her chin and thought about it for a moment. "Well, he's a friend of my Papa. He's tall, just like Papa. He's an American, just like me, and he's from California, just like me. Papa and Adam talked a lot about history and archaeology. I remember Papa looking at some books that Adam had written. They also excavated an old Spanish shipwreck together off the coast of Texas. That was a couple of years ago." Sarah shrugged and started eating again.

Shinobu looked at Keitaro. "Sempai," she said. "Would you tell us about your uncle?"

"Yes, Urashima," Motoko added. "Since this… male… is going to be living here, we would like to know something more about him."

"Um, I can tell you a little about him, but I haven't seen him in a few years," Keitaro began, "although I've talked to him a couple of times recently on the phone since I've taken over management of the inn." He gathered his thoughts for a moment. "You already know that he is Haruka's adopted brother. He's about my age, or maybe just a little older; I don't remember his exact age. Adam has a photographic memory and is very smart, so he was really good in school. He was always getting skipped in grades. I think he was taking some university classes when he was twelve years old. Anyway, Grandma Hina met his grandfather after World War Two, when the Americans were here, and they became lifelong friends. His family often visited Japan. Adam spent many of his summers here. When we were small, I remember us training together in the Urashima style of martial arts, and we were initiated… Never mind that."

Keitaro paused to take a bite of his food, and then he continued. "His parents died in an auto accident when he was thirteen or fourteen. He was their only child and I think he inherited some lands in California. Grandma Hina adopted him and brought him to live in Japan. I remember he used to oil paint and he was beginning to write, but I didn't know that he was a published author," he nodded at Sarah. "I know that he has been running errands for the family for a few years, sort of like a troubleshooter."

He scratched the back of his head. "Now that I think about it, I seem to recall Dad mentioning that his brother Adam was getting married last year. I think it was supposed to be an arranged marriage. Since Haruka didn't mention a wife moving in here, I would guess that he didn't get married after all. Sorry. That's all I can tell you right now."

Motoko seemed to be considering something. "You said something about an Urashima style of martial arts. What is that?"

Keitaro scratched his head again. "The Urashima family has a samurai background. The family has a unique style of martial arts that has been passed down for generations. Most family members are exposed to it when they are young, but not everyone continues with it. I was never that interested in it, nor was my father. Haruka and Adam were good at it. So is my little sister," he shrugged. "I'm certain that Adam must have had some sort of martial arts training before he began learning the Urashima style. I don't know if he ever kept up with the training."

"What is this initiation that you mentioned?" Motoko pressed.

"Oh, that's nothing important. Forget that I said anything about it," Keitaro replied nervously. He quickly finished his food, and said, "Well, I need to do some chores, so I'll see you all later."

The girls looked suspiciously at Keitaro's back as he hurried away.

_I wonder what that was all about?_ Motoko thought to herself.

The rest of the day went by quickly. Keitaro managed to clean the hot springs without being accused of peeking at anyone. He and Shinobu had also gotten the grocery shopping done without incident. He had even patched the "launch damage" left over from a couple of days earlier, when Naru had taken offense to his accidentally yanking her skirt down around her ankles. The resulting Naru "Iron Punch" had blasted him straight through the attic floor and the roof. He had made an impressive crash landing in Hinata Bay, right next to the old lighthouse.

After dinner, Keitaro and Naru went to her room to study. The evening went well and they had a fruitful session. Keitaro had even managed to avoid getting pounded due to his usual "perversions." When he finally retired to bed that evening, it was with a deep sense of accomplishment. Life was good!

Two Years Earlier:

Adam Urashima down-shifted the blue Mazda pickup truck as he carefully drove around a curve in the narrow road just outside of the city of Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. The pouring rain had finally tapered off into a fine drizzle, with the occasional odd flash of lightning visible off in the distance. The truck slowed as it approached a covered wooden sign posted next to a side road. In the dim and watery afternoon light, Adam read the formal script on the deeply carved sign. It simply stated "Gods' Cry School: Martial Arts Studio." He turned onto the road and was almost immediately swallowed by a dense stand of evergreen trees.

As he cruised down the graveled road, Adam thought about his purpose for visiting the mysterious Gods' Cry School. He was hoping to obtain some information about certain of his ancestors. These were people who had made important and lasting contributions to his family line, including many of its martial arts practices.

He had told Mom Hina that he wanted to track down his Aoyama ancestors, who were said to have come from the Kyoto area. When he had asked her for suggestions on where to start, she had given him an amused smile and a letter of introduction to the dojo. She had told him that most of the Aoyamas from the Kyoto area were associated with the founders of the school. He had then called the dojo and they had set him up with an appointment to meet with one of their council members. He was on his way to that meeting now.

Adam thought back to when he was a small child. His family from America used to visit "Grandma Hina" during the summer each year. At the time, Hina was his godmother: then his parents had been killed and Hina had become his adoptive mother, as per his parents' will. Adam had been an only child and, with the exception of his Aunt Marie, he was the last surviving direct member of the American branch. He had many cousins, aunts and uncles, but none carried the Urashima name. After immigrating to California in the early 1900's, the Urashimas had always run heavily to female children, with only a few males being born to carry on the family name, only one per generation.

In a way, it was sort of ironic. A century ago, his branch of the family had deliberately separated itself from the Japanese branch in a conflict over a marriage: a marriage between an Urashima and an Aoyama. The wheel of time had turned and the two branches were now reuniting four generations later. And that was why he was now approaching the Gods' Cry School: to hopefully learn more about his great-grandmother Nonoko Aoyama and her family.

He could remember, as a child, actually visiting the dojo a number of times with Grandma Hina. She would sometimes visit the school and would take him along on the trip. While Hina was conducting her business or visited with the Elders, Adam would explore the campus grounds or play with some of the resident children. His favorite playmates were two sisters who were the daughters of one of the school Elders: Tsu-chan and Mo-chan. Tsu-chan was the oldest of the trio and Mo-chan was the youngest. Adam was between the two in age. He hadn't thought of his two friends in years. _I wonder how they're doing,_ he thought.

The forest abruptly opened up into a large meadow that contained a few scattered trees and several large clumps of bushes. Adam came around a sharp turn and suddenly locked up the brakes on his truck. There was a large tree branch lying across the road. He managed to bring the truck to a stop just before hitting the fallen limb. As he was preparing to get out of his vehicle and pull the branch out of the road, he suddenly had a nasty, foreboding feeling - one that he easily recognized.

_Oh, great!_ he thought. _Just what I didn't need._

He sat back in his seat and relaxed some of the guards that held his ki energy in check. Using just a trickle of his energy, he expanded his awareness outwards and then began to carefully search and probe the area for other beings. He first located a small herd of deer that was quickly moving away from the area (_Something has them spooked_). Then he spotted a bright source of ki energy that was rapidly moving towards his location. It was still some distance off (_Interesting_). Then he found what he had been searching for: a pocket of smoldering, dark energy nearby that was slowly creeping in his direction (_Oh, look! There's a momma demon and several cute little baby demons. How precious!_).

Adam reached into the storage bin under the left side of the dashboard and removed a sheathed tanto dagger, which he quickly attached to his right ankle. _I wish I had something bigger to take on the hunt, but this was only supposed to be a social visit. Mental note to me: always have your sword handy!_ he thought to himself. He shut down the engine and then slipped quickly from behind the steering wheel and out of the right side of the truck.

He had only moved about forty feet away when he heard some leaves rustling and suddenly a black form charged at him from out of a large bush. It was a "lesser" demon in the shape of a large wolf with red, glowing eyes and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. As the demon dashed at him from his right side, Adam glanced at it then raised his right arm so that it was pointed directly at the pseudo-wolf. When his hand came on target, it was shaped into that of an ancient evil warding sign: the first and little fingers were held straight out, the two middle fingers were folded inward and held against the palm by the thumb, and the palm and folded thumb were facing the creature. The demon immediately slammed into an invisible ward wall, the force of the impact driving it back onto its rear haunches. As the demon rocked backwards, off balanced and stunned, Adam fired a burst of "hard ki" light energy down his right arm and the demon's upper torso exploded. As the creature died, its body disintegrated into a dark sand-like substance that swirled around for a moment and then quickly faded away.

Adam felt more dark energy approaching from his left. His left arm was already coming up even before he had glanced at his next target. SLAM! CRACK! Another pseudo-wolf came apart…

OOO

Megumi Aoyama was enjoying a peaceful afternoon tea with her Aunt Erena. They were sitting comfortably on a low sofa and were quietly discussing the photographs that Megumi had brought back from her recent trip to Hawaii, where she had met with some Huna Elders and practitioners. Occasionally a flash of lightning would light up the picture window that looked out over one of the many formal gardens contained on the school grounds.

Megumi was currently substituting for the head of the Shinmei-ryu School, while Tsuruko was on vacation with her family. Tsuruko Aoyama was considered to be the school's most powerful swordsperson for her generation, and she was the current head of the school, which position she was holding in trust until her younger sister, Motoko, was ready to take over as the headmistress.

Megumi was usually the administrator in charge of the metaphysical part of the school that trained the students in things dealing with spirit: gods, demons, ghosts, possessions, exorcisms, etc. This was an extremely important position, as one of the school's primary purposes had always been to protect the world from demons and other evil beings. She was also the liaison between the school and the various temples in Japan and elsewhere.

Both ladies were wearing the white gi and red hakama that was the standard uniform worn at the Shinmei-ryu School. In appearance, they very closely resembled each other. Both were taller than was the average for Japanese women. They both had dark gray eyes and long, black hair that fell to the small of their backs. The major difference was that Erena was about twenty years older than Megumi.

They had just opened a fresh packet of photographs when there was a quiet knock at the door.

"Yes, what is it," Megumi called out.

The door slid open and a young student named Ako peered nervously around the edge of the doorframe. "Megumi-sama! Chisaki-sensei wanted me to tell you that some demons have appeared on the grounds near the northeastern drive. One of the passive wards sent an alarm. There is also a vehicle approaching the area."

Megumi paused for a moment in thought, and then said, "Go tell Takaya-sensei that he is to mobilize whatever forces that he feels are necessary to protect the compound. I will go examine our unexpected guests."

"Yes, Megumi-sama," replied Ako as she hurried off to carry out her instructions.

Megumi and Erena walked through a sliding glass door and into the formal garden. Megumi suddenly sprang onto a nearby wall and from there she leaped into the branches of a large tree. She then began bouncing rapidly from tree to tree, speeding towards the contact area. As she approached the target zone, she slowed her speed and then came to an abrupt stop, hidden upon a large tree branch overlooking a field of wildflowers and scattered stands of bushes.

Looking through the concealing leaves, she could see the road as it cut through the large meadow. There was a small, blue truck stopped in its center. As she watched, a young man got out of the truck and walked out into the field. He hadn't moved very far when suddenly several wolf-shaped demons charged at him. Megumi was surprised when the stranger managed to destroy the evil creatures with barely a pause in his steps. The man then proceeded to carefully stalk towards a thick copse of small trees. With her enhanced hearing she could hear him speaking quietly to himself. "Here, fishy fishy fishy!"

OOO

As the third pseudo-wolf disintegrated, Adam changed his direction of travel and headed towards a dense stand of trees in which he knew the other demon was concealed. As he stalked towards his target he sent his ki energy scouting ahead of himself. He sensed that last demon was a mid-level denizen.

Adam was nearing the clump of trees when a humanoid creature covered with grey and black reptilian scales stepped out of its concealment. The demon gave off a foul, bitter odor and he could hear a rasping sound as it breathed. It paused to contemplate one of its hands for a long moment, seeming to admire the length and sharpness of its black claws, and then it began to giggle in a high-pitched voice.

_And there's Mr. Mediocrity, playing his little mind games,_ Adam thought to himself.

Suddenly the demon charged at him and began swinging its deadly claws. Adam dodged the swipes and then rolled between the creature's legs. _This is really stupid_, he thought to himself. He came out of the roll behind the demon and was now holding onto his dagger. The creature tried to quickly spin around, but Adam rapidly stabbed it twice in the lower back, where its kidneys would be if it were human. The demon screamed and paused briefly in its movement. After Adam yanked the knife out from the second stab, he spun his body around a half turn and backhanded the tanto into the creature's chest. As soon as the knife was embedded in the demon's body Adam said, "Cutting Evil Blade: First Form" and released a bolt of condensed ki energy through the blade. The energy detonated inside of the demon and it came apart in a burst of blackish, sand-like particles, which swirled around briefly and then vanished.

"Splash four!" Adam stated happily, and then he glanced at his watch. "Damn, now I'm going to be late for my appointment!" He disgustedly brushed away some bits of grass that were sticking to his now damp clothing.

Megumi watched as the strange young man finished off the last demon. When he used the "Cutting Evil Blade" technique a look of surprise crossed her face. _That was a secret Gods' Cry School technique he just used,_ Megumi thought. _I wander where he learned it from? I don't recognize his aura. Well, let's find out who he is._

When Adam arrived back at his truck he found a lovely lady waiting for him in the drizzle. From the strength of her aura and ki signature, he decided that she was probably the incoming bogie that he had spotted earlier. He figured that she was from the school, as she was dressed in the red and white hakama and gi that he remembered from his youth. She was also carrying a sheathed katana.

"Good afternoon," he greeted her with a small bow.

"Good afternoon to you too," she answered him. "Might I inquire as to who you are and what your purpose is for being here?" she asked politely.

"My name is Adam Urashima. I have an appointment with Kazuyo Taikono-sama at the Gods' Cry School." He glanced down at his watch. "It appears that I'm going to be late for that meeting."

"My name is Megumi Aoyama, and I am the acting head of the Gods' Cry School."

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Adam replied.

Megumi had been examining his aura carefully while she was talking with him. She noticed that he kept his ki energy in check and locked down so that it appeared to be that of a normal human. Yet she had seen it flaring brightly during his fight. Someone had given him some excellent training. She noted that even though his ki energy was damped down, he was still radiating a high level of personal magnetism. Physically, he was an attractive young man. He appeared to be about twenty years in age. He had medium brown hair and hazel eyes; he stood almost six feet tall, and was quite muscular. He was also obviously of mixed Japanese and Western descent. As he was speaking, she could detect a very slight American accent.

"I was watching your fight with the demons. Where did you learn the technique that you used to dispatch the last one?"

"It is one of a number of martial techniques that have been passed down through my family line. In fact, the reason that I am here is to try to find out some information about some of my ancestors, whose family name was Aoyama."

Megumi lifted an eyebrow at this revelation._ That sounds interesting,_ she thought._ I'll have a talk with Kazuyo after their meeting is over. _She gestured at his truck. "If you don't mind, Urashima-san, I'll ride along with you and show you where to go."

"Please. Just call me Adam, and I would be happy to have you escort me."

"All right, Adam-san," Megumi replied.

Current Time:

The next several days went by quickly.

During this time, Mutsumi Otohime had moved into the dormitory, and was now staying in room 305, right next to Naru. Mutsumi had been staying in Haruka's guest room since her apartment had burned down to the ground, in exchange for helping out at the teahouse. Eventually, the building's insurance had paid on her losses and she had decided that it would be more comfortable living in the dormitory, though she still helped Haruka out when the teahouse was extra busy.

It was also convenient for studying with Naru and Keitaro. The ronin trio had formed what they tentatively called the "San Rose Study Group." Mutsumi was a third year ronin, the same as Keitaro. They were surprised to find out that Mutsumi was extremely smart. The only reason that she had failed to get into Tokyo University, up until this point, was because she had always messed up during the center testing. She would faint just before taking the test and be taken to the hospital, or she would absent-mindedly forget to write her name on the test.

The arrival of Mutsumi had also added a new twist to the underground competition for Keitaro's heart.

Naru was very much attracted to Keitaro, although she would rather die than to admit it - especially to herself. One of the reasons that she kept hitting him was to keep him at a safe distance until she could figure out her true feelings for him. She also would not tolerate him getting close to the other girls, for the same reason. Punching him for his alleged "perversions" against the other girls was her way of reserving him for herself. And of course, she just KNEW that all men were perverts and who knows what Keitaro might do if he was allowed to get close to any of the other dorm tenants?

Unlike Naru, Shinobu knew and accepted that she was in love with Keitaro (or was it only a crush?). The trouble was that she was much younger than was her Sempai. She knew that Keitaro didn't think of her as a potential romantic partner but as more like a younger sister. She understood this but it didn't keep her from secretly hoping that someday things would magically work out and they would become a pair.

Then Mutsumi had arrived on the scene and had stirred up a hornets' nest. She had never been shy about her attraction for Keitaro. In fact, Mutsumi often steered the conversations around to the topic of who might be interested in him. Earlier, and to Naru's distress, Mutsumi had managed to kiss Keitaro before even Naru herself had gotten the chance. Of course, Mutsumi had kissed Naru soon afterwards, as an apology [the Okinawa incident].

Mutsumi had also gifted Keitaro and Naru with an odd little hot springs turtle by the name of Tama. Tama was able to fly, or rather glide through the air. The little reptile had promptly fallen in love with Motoko who, unfortunately, was terrified of turtles. Having Tama around was giving Motoko a serious case of the heebie-jeebies.

Su, on the other hand, loved turtles - to eat. She spent a lot of time trying to catch Tama, sometimes using some very extravagant plans and methods. She had even created a line of flying robots that she called "Mecha-Tamas," in honor of her grand nemesis.

Keitaro was busy cleaning room 303, where Adam would be staying when Motoko knocked on the doorframe and entered the room. As she glanced around, she noted a stack of boxes that had been delivered earlier in the day. Apparently Keitaro had begun emptying some of the cartons. She saw that there was a small shrine in the common area and a sword stand that held several sheathed katanas, one in red, one in green, and a longer one in purple. In one corner there stood a large, empty painting easel.

"Shinobu wanted me to tell you that dinner is ready," she said.

"Thank you," Keitaro said with a smile. "I'll be down in a few minutes."

She had just turned to leave when Keitaro said, "Oh, before you go; do you happen to know what kind of a sword that is?" He pointed at a wall.

Motoko looked to where Keitaro was pointing and then walked over to it. Mounted upon pegs attached to a vertical wooden plaque with a blue felt background was a hand-and-a-half broadsword. On its side there were some intricate engravings and runes. "That is an old European-style broadsword. I think it's sometimes called a bastard sword," Motoko stated.

As she was turning away, Motoko's eye caught a better view of the racked katanas. She walked over and then bent down to look at them. The top sword was contained in a polished, green-stained wooden sheath; and the grip was wrapped in a woven, moss green chording. Motoko grasped the sword and carefully slid the blade partially out of its sheath. On the side of the blade was the graven image of a Chinese dragon. The sword's name was engraved in kanji. It said Sea Dragon. She replaced the sword and grasped the second, which was similar to the first, but dressed in red. The blade was engraved with a phoenix and its name was Fire Bird. The purple sword (a nodachi) was longer than the others and was engraved with a peacock but it bore no name. _These blades have interesting auras. They also appear to be very old. Hmm, this Peacock sword especially reminds me of a Shinmei-ryu blade. It even has a tassel similar to my own,_ she thought to herself. "Let's go eat dinner," she said out loud to Keitaro.

"Right," he said.

As the group was finishing their wonderful dinner, courtesy of Shinobu's cooking skills, Haruka popped her head around the corner. "Hey, Keitaro," she said around her cigarette. I just got a call from Adam. He should be arriving here sometime this coming Sunday. He's finishing up some business in Kyoto right now."

Keitaro waved at her as he headed for Naru's room for a long evening of studying. The practice test had gone well for everyone, except for Mutsumi, but now the center test was less than two months away. There was no time to fool around. He definitely wanted to get into Toudai this year.

Sunday morning started out grey and damp, with a dense fog smothering the village of Hinata Hot Springs. However, by mid-morning the sun had broken through and the heavy mists had rapidly evaporated. Soon after, Keitaro was outside raking and sweeping up the masses of damp, decaying fallen leaves that had blanketed the ground. The cool air was helping his head to recover from the annual potato cooking party that the dorm had held the evening before, out by the waterfall. It had been a wild party to which the whole neighborhood had been invited. He wasn't the only one feeling under the weather. Naru had been really out of it at breakfast and had been avoiding him all morning. He shook his head in confusion, and then returned to raking the leaves.

Early that same afternoon, Kitsune decided to spend some time out-of-doors. The air was crisp and clean. Left over autumn leaves littered the ground and some of them danced and scuttled in the light breeze. Some white, fluffy clouds slowly blew by overhead. Except for the joyful trilling of a lone bird, it was quiet and peaceful - serene.

Suddenly an angry shout shattered the tranquility: "URASHIMA!"

You guessed it: Keitaro had just had another one of his trademark accidents. After lunch, he had gone back to raking leaves off of one of the lawns next to the dormitory. Just as Motoko was strolling by, his foot had slipped on a large, wet leaf and he had tripped and fallen beside her. Unfortunately, as he was falling and "wind milling" his arms all over the place, he had grabbed onto Motoko's red hakama and yanked it down around her ankles, leaving her white, practical panties shining in the afternoon sunlight. . Motoko's face had turned red with embarrassment and then had quickly morphed into scarlet with her anger. She yanked her hakama back up and then grabbed for her sword.

When Keitaro got back up and picked a few leaves off of his shirt, he took one look at Motoko's face and then took off running like a terrified rabbit. "Wait, Motoko! I can explain!" he yelled over his shoulder.

Motoko took off after him. "URASHIMA! Come back here and take your just punishment like a man!" She sent two blasts of ki energy after him, but he managed to dodge both of them. This just made her even angrier.

Keitaro dodged a third ki blast and then ran around a corner of the building. He dashed right past Kitsune, who looked at him in surprise.

"What's the hurry, Keitaro?" she called after him.

"It's Motoko," he yelled back in a panic. "She's going to kill me!"

He had just turned back to look in the direction that he was running when he realized that he was about to run right over the top of Haruka and two men. They were all facing away from him and so they didn't see him coming.

Motoko rounded the same corner of the dormitory and saw her quarry making his escape. "URASHIMA! DIE!" she shouted. "Rock Splitting Sword: Second Form!" she yelled, while swinging her sword down and sending an extra strong burst of ki energy after him. In her anger, she failed to see the other three people standing there.

With a low roar, the ki blast headed straight at Keitaro, the energy wave tearing up the ground as it charged down upon its target. The other three finally heard the sound of running footsteps. They were just looking back over their shoulders at Keitaro, when the huge pocket of energy slammed into them and detonated. The four were picked up by the energy and then launched high into the sky, heading in the direction of the hot springs.

Motoko finally noticed the others just before her ki energy exploded. She stood there with her mouth and her eyes wide open in shock as the four vanished over the roof of the old inn.

Kitsune walked over while shaking her head. "Keitaro will probably survive the fall, since our boy seems to be immortal," she said quietly. "My guess is that the other three are toast. You do realize that if Haruka happens to survive, she probably won't be taking any prisoners?"

Motoko nodded. Her face was very pale.

"I'm pretty sure that one of those men was Seta," Kitsune commented. "I'll bet the other one was Haruka's brother. We better get over there and look for survivors…"

End of Chapter

A/N: Thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creative property of Ken Akamatsu and his associates. Any new characters not included in the original manga or the anime (written by Shō Aikawa) are my own creative property.

Chapter Two (Revised):

Motoko watched in horror as Keitaro, Haruka, and two unidentified men were launched high over the roof of Hinata House by her angry, super-charged blast of ki energy.

Kitsune walked over while shaking her head. "Keitaro will probably survive the fall, since our boy seems to be immortal," she said quietly. "My guess is that the other three are toast. You do realize that if Haruka happens to survive, she probably won't be taking any prisoners?"

Motoko nodded. Her face was very pale.

"I'm pretty sure that one of those men was Seta," Kitsune commented. "I'll bet the other one was Haruka's brother. We better get over there and look for survivors."

The two women quickly hurried around the side of the dormitory. At their last sighting, the human projectiles had been heading in the general direction of the hot springs. Hopefully, the water there would have cushioned their landing. No such luck. As they approached the hot-pool they could see that part of the privacy fence was down. With a sense of dread, they entered through the hole only to pause in surprise. Standing just inside the opening and nonchalantly brushing off his clothing was Seta. A trickle of blood was dripping from his forehead and down between his eyes. "Oh, hi ladies," he said brightly. "It's a beautiful day for flying, don't you think?"

With their eyes now wide open, Motoko and Kitsune gazed deeper into the bathing area. On the far side of the pool, they could see Haruka sitting against the opposite wall. A bandage had mysteriously appeared on her forehead and she was puffing away furiously on a cigarette. She glanced upwards and Motoko and Kitsune followed her gaze. Hanging upside down from a tree that overlooked the hot spring was a man that Motoko recognized as Adam Urashima. His back appeared to be partially embedded in the trunk and one of his legs was hooked over a large branch. A bandage had also mysteriously appeared on his head. A sudden motion attracted their attention still further up the tree. A sneaker had thrust its way out from between some foliage and was thrashing about.

"We'll it would seem that they somehow made it out alive," Kitsune commented quietly to Motoko. _Who ARE these people?_ she thought nervously to herself.

Motoko glanced again at Haruka and saw that the older woman was now glaring angrily at her. Haruka glanced upwards again. "Hey, Adam!" she called out loudly.

"What is it?" Adam called back, still hanging upside down. He shifted slightly and a small cascade of coins came tumbling out of one of his front pockets.

"Are you carrying that tanto of yours?"

"Yes."

"Can I borrow it?" Haruka looked back at Motoko, giving her a dark look. "I feel like carving myself several pounds of Shinmei buttocks for lunch!" Motoko sweat-dropped then began to inch her way towards the opening in the fence.

"I don't think so," Adam called back. "I just got through cleaning it."

"Pity," Haruka commented.

"By the way, Haruka," Adam called again. "Is that my nephew Keitaro up there, attempting to have an intimate relationship with this tree?" He gestured higher up the tree where the leaves were now wildly thrashing around. Muffled curses could be heard above the sound of the whipping branches.

"It sounds like Keitaro," Haruka agreed.

The noise from the leafy struggle suddenly increased and then abruptly cut off as a body fell rapidly to the ground with a thud. Keitaro looked up from the ground. A bandage was on his head and there were several deep scratches on his face. He shook his fist back up at the tree and then dropped his arm with a sigh. "Beaten by a damned squirrel," he said sadly.

"What was that, Part-timer?" Seta asked.

"My head got caught in a hole in the tree trunk. The resident didn't take too kindly to my invasion!" Keitaro said with a pink face.

"That could only happen to you, Keitaro," Kitsune snickered, while Motoko just gave him a disgusted look and rolled her olive-colored eyes heavenwards for a moment.

Motoko glanced away from her study of Keitaro, and saw that Adam had climbed down from the tree and was giving a hand-up to Haruka. When all four of her victims were standing on their feet, Motoko went down on her knees and placed her forehead on the ground. "I wish to express my sincerest apologies for the harm that I have committed against you," she said. "I will accept whatever punishment that you may deem fit."

Haruka looked again at her younger brother. "Are you sure that you won't loan me your tanto?"

"I'm quite sure," Adam replied. "Besides, Shinmei buttocks would probably give you indigestion… unless you were to tenderize it first."

"Hmmm," Haruka said quietly while pondering the prone swordswoman. "Tenderizing it first might be just the thing!" She then proceeded to loudly crack her knuckles, while Motoko nervously kept her head on the ground.

"However," Haruka continued, "I will let it go this time, but I expect you to clean up this mess and to fix whatever damages that you've caused. You will also be responsible for cleaning the hot springs for the next week. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Haruka-san," Motoko humbly replied.

"In the future, I expect you to pay more attention to your target acquisition. You have no business throwing around your energy if you are going to be careless. It's like shooting a gun. You not only have to be aware of your target, but also of what might be down range from it."

"I will remember, Haruka-san," Motoko said quietly, while blushing pink with embarrassment.

"Okay, get busy then!"

Motoko scrambled to her feet and headed off to collect some tools and cleaning equipment. When Keitaro headed in the same direction, Haruka stopped him.

"What are you doing, Keitaro?"

"Well, I thought that I would help Motoko fix the fence," he replied.

"No. Let her fix it herself. Motoko needs to learn that she can't keep breaking things around here. Perhaps if she has to fix her own damage, it will drive the point home. If that doesn't work, I might start sending the repair bills to her clan to pay. I guarantee that that will put a halt to it quickly enough."

Keitaro wasn't happy about it, but he went along with Haruka's wishes anyway. Instead of helping Motoko, he helped his uncle to carry a pair of trunks up to his third floor room. They were placed on the floor next to the pile of boxes that had been shipped in earlier that week.

"So, Uncle Adam…" Keitaro began.

"Just call me Adam, remember?" he corrected with a smile.

"Sorry, I forgot," Keitaro said. "Anyway, we were surprised when we heard that you would be living here. Do you have any idea how long you'll be staying?"

"I have no idea," Adam replied in an off-hand manner. "Mom wanted me to stay here for at least six months, but it's likely to be longer than that. It's not totally my decision. From what Mom was saying, I suspect that the Family Council has a hand in it. They're probably plotting something, as usual. They always have some kind of scheme working. "

"Family politics, huh," Keitaro commented. "I don't suppose you would know if Haruka or I will likely to be affected by whatever they're planning?"

"I have no idea, and there's no point in guessing."

Keitaro looked like he wanted to further pursue the matter, but Adam headed him off. "Sorry, Kiddo," he said with finality. "There really isn't anything else that I can tell you, other than that the Family Council is probably involved. In any case, I've been on leave from most of my family duties for a little over four months now. I'm not up to speed on the current Family… issues."

Adam paused for a moment to change mental gears, and then he took a good look at Keitaro. "So," he stated seriously. "How are you getting along as the manager here?"

"Well," Keitaro hedged as he rubbed the back of his head nervously, "it's mostly going okay."

"You're having troubles with some of the girls?" Adam asked.

Keitaro gave him a surprised look. "How did you- ?"

"When Mom asked me to relocate back to the inn, she gave me a brief rundown on the girls and their issues," Adam replied quietly. "So I have an idea about some of the problems that you _might_ potentially be facing. I also happen know the families of both Motoko and Kaolla, which means that I know a little bit about their backgrounds."

Keitaro looked surprised for a moment. "You know their families?"

Adam smiled at his response. "Perhaps it slipped your mind that I am related to the Aoyamas? So of course I am familiar with that particular family, although I wasn't aware that one of the Aoyama's was living here until Mom mentioned it. I told Tsuruko just yesterday that I was relocating here and she didn't even blink."

"Tsuruko?" Keitaro repeated questioningly.

"Uh huh, Motoko's older sister."

"Maybe it just slipped her mind," Keitaro theorized.

"Not very likely," Adam snorted. "Nothing ever gets by that woman. No, she's probably up to something sneaky. I didn't even bother mentioning that I already new that her sister was here. By the way, don't mention any of this to Motoko. For the time being she doesn't need to be reminded that I'm part of her family."

"O…kay," Keitaro said carefully.

"Wheels within wheels; don't let it bother you," Adam smiled. "Now, Kaolla's family is even more interesting than Motoko's, but I've been forbidden to discuss them. Mom would kick my ass up around my ears if I breathed a word about them. Well, in any case, you can use me as a sounding board if you need an ear to listen when you feel like talking."

Keitaro smiled. "Thanks, I really appreciate that."

"You're welcome. I know that Haruka will do the same. We're willing to help where we can, but ultimately you're the manager of Hinata House."

"So, what are you going to be doing while you're here?" Keitaro asked.

"Well, I'm officially still on leave for a couple more months, so I'll be spending some of that time taking it easy; probably doing some painting and writing. I'll be taking some short assignments from the family and I'll probably do some physical training."

Keitaro glanced around at his uncle's quarters then looked again at Adam. "Is there anything else that I can help you with?" he asked.

"No, thank you," Adam replied. "I'm going to unpack some of my things and then rest for awhile. I just got in from Kyoto a little while ago and I haven't had much sleep."

"Okay. I'll see you at dinner time, then." Keitaro headed back down the stairs.

Two Years Earlier:

Adam pulled his truck up next to the high, cut-stone wall that surrounded the school complex, and then parked it in a flat area that was near a heavy plank gate. Megumi Aoyama led him through a smaller pass-through door that was set into the massive stone blocks. Once inside, Adam got his first recent view of the formal gardens and ancient buildings of the God's Cry School. Megumi led him towards a low building off to the right. Adam's photographic memory kicked in, and he recalled that the building was some sort of an administration annex that had been built along one side of a large courtyard.

Adam and Megumi entered through an open doorway and into a small, lobby-like area. At the back of the room was a large, western-style desk. A young lady wearing the standard red and white uniform was sitting behind the desk and talking quietly on a telephone. As they approached, she hung up the phone and smiled.

"Good day, Megumi-sama," the girl said.

"And a good day to you too, Iyo-chan," Megumi replied. She gestured at Adam. "This is Adam Urashima-san. He has an appointment with Kazuyo-san. Would you please show him the way? And then let Takaya-sensei know that the threat has been removed and he can stand-down his people."

"I would be most happy to do so," she replied. "Please come this way, Urashima-san."

Iyo led Adam down a short hallway that was lined with a series of sliding doors. None of the doors were open. "Have you been here before," she asked with a bright smile.

"I used to hang around occasionally when I was a child," Adam replied in a friendly tone of voice.

Iyo stopped in front of a door near the end of the hall. Her face had assumed a neutral expression. She quietly tapped on the door and then slid it aside. "Kazuyo-sama, your appointment is here."

As Adam stepped into the room, Iyo silently closed the door behind him. His eyes quickly scanned around the room and then came to rest upon a woman who was sitting behind another western-style desk. The woman, whom Adam assumed to be Kazuyo Taikono, had long black hair, dark eyes, and appeared to be in her mid-fifties. She also wore the standard red and white hakama and gi. She was staring at him with a fixed gaze, and her mouth was set into a tight, thin line. Adam vaguely remembered seeing a younger version of this woman when he used to visit the dojo as a child. He also recalled that her face always seemed to hold a sour or suspicious look.

Farther back behind the desk, and standing against the far wall, was a young lady in her middle teens. She also had dark hair and eyes, and she wore a look of anticipation on her face. As she looked at him, she gave him a small smirk.

He bowed to the older woman. "My name is Adam Urashima. Have I the honor of addressing Kazuyo Taikono-sama," he asked politely.

"You're late!" she snapped abruptly. "I have better things to do than to waste my time waiting for you!" The girl in the background allowed her smirk to grow more pronounced.

"My apologies," Adam replied carefully. "I was unavoidably detained." He placed a manila envelope on the edge of her desk. "I was told to bring copies of these documents to our meeting," he said.

Kazuyo stared at him for a moment and then she swept her right arm across the desk, knocking the large envelope into a nearby trashcan. The teenage girl's smirk grew even wider. Now she was smiling like a Cheshire cat.

Kazuyo glared at Adam, and then she said in a stiff voice, "I don't need to look at that trash. I was given the authority to examine your claims about being descended from Nonoko Aoyama-sama, a previous heir to the Gods' Cry School. Your claim is obviously false. Nonoko Aoyama-sama died during a flu epidemic about a century ago. She never married nor had she any children. I don't need to see any faked documents. You are obviously not descended from the Aoyama clan and I'll bet you're not even a real Urashima, just some cast-off piece of flotsam saddled to a delusional old lady.

The girl standing behind the desk was now giggling outright and throwing mean little looks at Adam.

Adam was staring stony-faced at the hateful woman who was now leaning forward over her desk. She had gotten so worked-up that she was almost drooling. She had begun yelling about halfway through her rant, and her voice was starting to shriek.

"I remember you!" she continued loudly. "Even as a child you were a social climber, you disgusting half-breed. You were always hanging around the heirs, trying to make friends with them: trying to worm your way into their hearts. You insect; you scum. But I kept a close eye on you. Yes I did. Every time that batty old woman would bring you around, I watched you. But it did you no good. The heirs have forgotten about you. I have already prepared a report for the council stating that you are a liar and are definitely not a member of the Aoyama clan," Kazuyo ended with her own smirk.

Adam was now angry and confused. He did not understand why this woman was attacking him so viciously. He recalled seeing her around as a child, but he did not remember any insults or injuries that he had done to her. With her attitude, he had to wonder why this woman had been put in charge of his case. He decided at that moment, that he didn't want anything further to do with the Aoyama clan. It was time to leave before he got angry enough to retaliate. He clenched his jaw again and got ready to walk out of the room.

Kazuyo was back to staring at him, with a disgusted look on her face. "I guess on top of being a liar, you're also a coward. A real man wouldn't allow himself to be insulted like that, but then you know that since I am a warrior trained by the sacred Gods' Cry School, that you would have no chance of defeating me. Now go slink away with your tail between your legs, you half-breed cur, and don't contaminate our dojo ever again. I would challenge you to a duel for your disgusting insolence, but I wouldn't want to sully my blade. Be gone!"

Adam gazed steadily at the bizarre woman for a moment with a neutral expression on his face, while he quickly considered his options. Regardless of her ranting, she appeared to be in her right mind. Her aura didn't show any signs of spirit possession, but it did burn red with anger. He suddenly gave her a big smile and then looked directly into her eyes.

"I don't know what your problem is, and I don't particularly care," he said quietly. "I don't care what your game is or what kind of mental derangement you possess. You've obviously set this up to get me into a fight. Fine, then. You spent so much effort on creating this event that it would be mean of me to disappoint you." Adam walked over to the wall nearest the door and removed a sheathed katana that was hanging there: an antique that was on display along with several other weapons. The sheath and grip were of a deep blue color and a red tassel hung from the end. He gestured with the sword toward a sliding glass door that opened into a large courtyard and then started forward.

Kazuyo arose from behind the desk and picked up her katana, which had been leaning against it. She had an unpleasant smile on her face. "Just so you know," she said. "I happen to be one of the best swordswomen at this school. I intend to wipe your tainted existence from the face of this planet: to exterminate you!" She glanced over her shoulder at her teenaged protégé, "Come along, Akira-chan, you won't want to miss this!"

The courtyard beyond the glass door gave both the appearance and the feeling of great antiquity. A series of aged, oaken pillars held up a wide, tile-covered porch that protected the long and deeply shadowed walkway that ran along the edges of the yard. Ancient, but well-maintained buildings guarded all four sides of the huge, enclosed courtyard. The two farthest structures were two-storied and possessed high-peaked roofs. They were finished with mossy, green tiles. The two nearest structures were single-storied, but they had the same peaked roofs. A carved stone fountain sat within a large sunken pool that graced the center of the yard. Several huge, drooping willow trees shaded the pool. There were many raised gardens scattered about; their foliage and flowers having been washed clean by the recent rain. The footpaths winding amongst the gardens were paved with pinkish flagstones. Adam could also see a large, green-patinaed, brass bell that was hung within an open frame, but was sheltered by a small, tile-covered roof. He had seen similar bell structures when he had visit various Shinto and Buddhist temples and shrines.

After stopping about sixty feet from the door, Adam turned back to face Kazuyo. She had paused about ten feet away, and was holding her naked sword in a high guard position. Akira had remained under the sheltered porch, but was observing the proceedings very carefully. She still wore her little smirk. As he watched, she lifted up a video camera and pointed it their way.

"For posterity," Kazuyo stated with a grin. "I will enjoy watching your destruction over and over again!"

Adam shrugged and then he grasped the sheath of his antique katana with his left hand and the sword with his right. Swiftly, he pulled the blade from its housing and then gently cast the sheath aside. He got into a balanced stance and then gazed impersonally at his opponent. "Normally, I would ask if you wanted to apologize before beginning a duel, but since you worked so hard to bring it about, I don't think I'll bother," he said.

Kazuyo gave him a dark look and then she suddenly charged towards him. "DIE SCUM!" she yelled. She was on him in the blink of an eye, delivering an overhead chop towards his left shoulder. At the last instant, the blade seemed to change course on its own initiative: the blade curved outward and then hooked back towards his lower left side. Adam easily blocked the blow and then he returned it with an upward, diagonal stroke that would have cut her from the right hip to the left shoulder, had it connected. Kazuyo jumped backwards to avoid the blow, her katana receiving the blade and directing it off to the side. She then stepped forward and delivered a mixed volley of slices and thrusts. Her speed was phenomenal. Still, Adam was able to fend off the attack and he gave back as good as he received. After about a minute of intense dueling back-and-forth, the two stepped away from each other and paused for a moment. Adam had managed to avoid receiving any damage to his body, but his shirt had been shredded by a series of near misses. Kazuyo's hakama and gi had sustained numerous rents as well, but she was bleeding from a shallow cut across the top of her left shoulder, where a badly parried thrust had grazed by her. Neither opponent was breathing very hard. Adam glanced over at Akira and noticed that a small crowd was beginning to collect there.

Kazuyo noticed the stinging cut on her shoulder and her eyes narrowed. She brought her sword above her head and then she slashed it downwards towards Adam. "Secret Technique: Rock Splitting Sword," she yelled. A blast of ki energy swept quickly towards the swordsman.

Adam immediately did a ki-enhanced leap into the air and then performed a back flip as the roiling ball of energy passed directly beneath him. As he landed back on his feet, his katana slashed forward as he returned the favor. "Rock Splitting Sword," he stated, duplicating her attack.

Not having expected Adam to survive the energy attack, Kazuyo was surprised by his fast counterattack. Still, she managed to dodge to the side in time to avoid the ki wave. The energy charge struck a nearby covered well and blew the brickwork apart. She was more than a little annoyed that Adam had duplicated her attack. It was time to get serious: deadly serious…

OOO

Megumi Aoyama had returned to her quarters after leaving Urashima in the Number Two Administration Building. Erena was still there, awaiting some news about the demon incursion. After refilling their teacups, Megumi told Erena about the curious young man that she had just met.

"I wonder why he's meeting with Kazuya," Erena asked. "I recall mention of an Adam Urashima at the last council meeting, but I had understood that Mutsuo was going to investigate his claim."

Megumi was surprised by Erena's comment. "What do you know about this Urashima person?" she asked.

"To begin with, he's Hina Urashima's adopted son. She brought him to the school a lot when he was growing up. He used to play with Tsuruko and Motoko, and they got to be pretty good friends. Recently, he called the dojo and said that he wanted to get some information about an ancestor that he thought was related to our clan. He was supposed to be scheduled for an interview with Mutsuo."

"Now that you mention it, I think that I remember seeing him here as a child. Well, based upon what I just saw as he wiped out those demons, he seems to be well trained in at least some Shinmei-ryu techniques. Who is his ancestor supposed to have been?"

"That's a problem. He says that his great-grandmother was named Nonoko Aoyama, and that she was from the Kyoto area. He also has a date of birth for her. Mutsuo did some checking and found that the information actually does match a woman who was a member of our clan. This woman was once the heir to the Gods' Cry School. Based on the family records, she was probably about as powerful as Tsuruko is today. The records are not clear about what happened to her; it's a great mystery, but it is known that she never inherited the school. Furthermore, there is no record of any marriage or children. When Mutsuo found this connection, he contacted Urashima and asked him to bring copies of any documents that he might have possession of that shows his direct link with the clan."

Megumi smiled and rubbed her hands together. "This is getting more and more interesting by the moment," she said happily. "Wouldn't it be absolutely marvelous if his claim turned out to be true? If nothing else, it would solve an old mystery, and perhaps add some new blood to the clan."

Erena also smiled and said, "We should know something in a little bit. Kazuya should be…" A sudden loud pounding on the door interrupted her.

The door was thrown open and Iyo rushed into the room. Her face was flushed and she was breathing heavily. "Megumi-sama!" she almost shouted in a panic. "Kazuyo-sama has challenged Urashima-san to a duel. They are fighting in the courtyard. Kazuyo-sama was yelling that she is going to kill him!"

"What!" Erena jumped to her feet.

"Calm down, Iyo-chan," Megumi said. "Now, quietly explain to us what is happening."

Iyo nodded, took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. "I was curious about Urashima-san because Kazuyo-sama has been muttering unpleasantly about him all day, but he seemed like a nice young man to me." She blushed a little bit. "I know that it was wrong of me, but I hung around outside of the door after I took Urashima-san to Kazuyo-sama's office, hoping to hear something." She paused again to catch her breath.

"Go on," Megumi urged.

"Kazuyo-sama began yelling at him almost as soon as he entered the room. She called him all sorts of insulting names and said that he was a liar and a social climber. She also said that she had already made up her mind about his claims and wasn't interested in any fake documents. She kept insulting him until he was goaded into challenging her to a duel. She then said that she was going to kill him. They're in the courtyard fighting right now."

There was a dull roar and the building trembled. "Ki burst,' Erena commented. "Somebody's throwing around some serious energy."

"We better get out there," Megumi said.

OOO

Adam glanced over his shoulder as Kazuyo's latest energy attack rumbled past him and collided with one of the buildings yet again. Fortunately the large crowd of observers had managed to get out of the way. "Hey, watch out you dimwit!" he yelled at Kazuyo. "You're going to kill someone!"

Kazuyo sneered and launched another attack. "Shinmei School Special Attack: Zankusho Blast!" she yelled and swung her sword towards Adam. A stream of ki energy roared down upon him. He jumped upwards again to avoid the blast. As he slowly rolled in the air over the top of the old bell structure, it was struck by the energy charge and exploded. There was a loud clang as the ancient brass bell was struck by exploding masonry shrapnel and Adam was peppered and tossed about another thirty feet. He managed to keep his orientation and landed crouched over on his feet. His hearing was gone; there was just a loud ringing in his ears. He wiped some blood from his face and then straightened back up. A small bandage had mysteriously appeared on his forehead.

"Gotcha' that time! Shinmei School Special Attack: Zankusho Blast!" Kazuyo yelled again, while going for a repeat performance. Another charge of ki energy raced towards Adam.

Adam watched the transparent energy wave race down upon him. He was done playing around with Crazy Kazuyo. There were now too many observers hanging around and somebody was going to get hurt. It was time to change tactics and get serious. He spread his arms wide and visualized the image of a large silver bowl being held in front of himself like a shield, the rim pointing back towards Kazuyo. As the ki wave was about to strike him, he quietly called out, "Silver Storm Canister!" The energy wave was instantly sucked into the invisible bowl where it was condensed into spinning globules of hard ki, each about the size of a softball. The clumps of energy were immediately launched back at Kazuyo. Surprised by the nature of the counterattack, she tried to dodge the returning shotgun blast of ki projectiles, but there was no way to avoid them all and she was struck by several globes and tossed back against a tree trunk.

The moment that Kazuyo regained her feet, Adam suddenly vanished from sight. An instant later, he was standing right in front of her. "Crimson Lotus Fist," he said quietly and then delivered a roundhouse punch to her sternum with his right fist. She went flying backwards as if a truck had struck her.

OOO

Megumi and Erena hurried down a hallway, and then they cut through an open office and into the huge central courtyard. A large bunch of observers were quietly watching the fight that was in progress. Just as they arrived at the crowd, there was an explosion and the stubby bell tower was destroyed. Megumi saw Adam land safely on his feet and then she heard Kazuyo yell "Shinmei School Special Attack: Zankusho Blast!"

_Not good, _Megumi thought to herself. The Zankusho Blast was one of the stronger techniques, and it would seriously injure any common swordsman, unless he could get out of its way. But instead of trying to dodge the ki attack, Urashima was standing directly in front of it with his arms spread wide, a katana dangling loosely from his left hand. _Is he trying to commit suicide, _she thought, and then received a major shock. Just before being wiped away by the energy attack, she clearly heard Urashima say "Silver Storm Canister" and the energy vanished. A moment later, a large gaggle of spinning ki balls swarmed back at Kazuyo. She tried to avoid the attack, but there were too many for her to miss them all. She wound up kissing a tree trunk.

"Ouch!" Elena winced.

"Tree Hugger," a man softly commented from nearby, which led to some snickers.

Kazuyo got back on her feet and Adam suddenly vanished.

"Hey, where'd the kid go," the same man commented.

"Shundo," another man replied.

Adam reappeared in front of Kazuyo. "Crimson Lotus Fist," he said quietly and then proceeded to knock her "ass-over-teakettle."

"That was a Shinmei-ryu technique," a middle-aged woman commented. "Who is that guy? I don't recognize him."

"Didn't he call that one attack "Silver Storm Canister?" asked another woman. "I thought that was an old Shinmei-ryu technique that was lost years ago. How would he know about it?"

"Why are they fighting?" a newcomer asked.

"Don't know," another man answered.

"Come on, Kazuyo-sama," yelled out a young female student. "Kick his butt."

OOO

Kazuyo picked herself up, spat out some blood, and then glared at Adam from sixty feet away, where she had stopped rolling. "So, Freak," she called. "You really think that you can beat me. Your tricks won't help you at all. I've just been playing with you. Now… its time for you to die!" As she was speaking, her katana began to glow with ki light. She brought the sword over her head and then she swung it towards Adam, yelling, "Ultimate Technique: Thunder Blade!" As the glowing ki energy left the blade, Adam vanished, only to reappear again hovering for a moment about forty feet in the air. The ki charge devastated a section of the garden: it dug a long trench along its trajectory, demolished a large boulder and then shattered an ancient yew tree, leaving behind a deep crater.

Adam vanished from the sky and reappeared about sixty feet from Kazuyo. "My turn," he stated. He was standing with his sword held with both hands along his right side, the blade angled back and downwards. The katana began to glow with a soft golden color. After a moment he calmly stated, "True Thunder-Light Sword." He then swung the katana in an arc over the top of his right shoulder. As the sword curved over his shoulder and started forward and downwards, he turned loose with his left hand, and continued the swing with just his right. The moment that the blade was pointed towards the earth, a huge burst of rumbling, golden energy leapt from the katana. It arced upwards through the air and then it curled over to impact right on top of Kazuyo. There was a flare as the energy was briefly repelled and shunted away from the unfortunate swordswoman, and then her shielding collapsed. Adam instantly stopped the energy flow.

"Splash five," he commented to himself. He also noticed that his hearing was beginning to return again.

OOO

"Kami!" someone muttered in awe.

"Kazuyo-sama's gotta' be toast!" someone else said quietly.

"Why doesn't someone stop them?" a teenaged girl asked.

"It's a duel. We're honor bound to let it continue until someone surrenders," an older woman answered.

"Do you think that Kazuyo is still alive?" Elena asked Megumi.

"I think so," Megumi replied. "Urashima seems to have a deft touch with his ki energy. Did you notice how he stopped the attack the instant that her shield failed? I think he deliberately spared Kazuyo's life. What concerns me is how he was able to use that Shinmei-ryu technique. As you know, only a few of our most advanced people can use it." She looked around at the spectators and noticed that Kazuyo's protégé was standing on a small boulder and was pointing a video camera at the battle. "I wonder what Akira is up to," she commented to Elena.

OOO

Adam paused about two yards away from Crazy Kazuyo as she stumbled to her feet. He carefully examined her from head to toe. His eyes finally came to rest on her now frizzy hair; the ends melted and smoking. "Nice doo," he finally commented.

Kazuyo got red in the face with anger. She suddenly swung her katana one-handed at Adam. He promptly knocked the sword out of her hand and then he carried through by grabbing her right arm and tossing her over his shoulder with a rolling judo throw. She hit the ground hard on her back and then lay there stunned. A moment later, the point of his katana was nestled lovingly up against her throat.

"I own your life," he said bluntly. "But it's not worth taking. Your greatest punishment will be in having to live with yourself. You're a disgrace as a human being. The next time that you consider falsely accusing someone or you think that your going to bully or kill someone because they are weaker than you are, then perhaps you will remember this day."

He picked up Kazuyo's fallen katana and, finding a large stone nearby, he leaned the sword against it and then stomped on it with his foot. The blade snapped in half. He held the broken sword up where Kazuyo could see it and then he casually tossed it aside. "By acting like a bully you've also disgraced your sword, which is now gone."

Adam stared at her for another moment and then he spun on his foot and walked away. This had been a bad day and he wanted to cut his losses and get away from this cursed school and its clan. He wanted nothing more to do with the Aoyama Family. He was hoping to leave without any further incidents, and so far nobody had tried to stop him. He saw a large door in the wall between the two lower buildings and correctly determined that it was an exit from the courtyard. A large crowd had gathered nearby, but only a few people were near the door itself, so he angled in that direction. He noticed that several people were heading towards the spot where he had just left Crazy Kazuyo.

As Adam neared the door, he stopped at one of the large oak support columns that were edging the walkway. The antique katana that he was holding glowed brightly with energy for a moment and then he drove it horizontally straight through the ancient post. The sword was now half embedded in the wood. He then removed two medallions that he was wearing on chains around his neck and hung them on the hilt of the old weapon. These were family heirlooms that had come from the Aoyama branch of the family. He had brought them to the meeting as further proof, but he no longer wanted them. They represented something that he fully intended to leave behind. He continued walking towards the door.

As he neared it, a large young man who was holding a sheathed katana at his side stepped in his way. "Stop," the man said menacingly. "You're not going anywhere yet."

"Step aside, please," Adam asked politely.

"I said that you're not going anywhere," the man repeated and drew his sword.

Bad mistake: Adam vanished and then reappeared next to the man. He chopped the edge of his hand against a nerve complex in the man's arm and the sword fell to the ground. He then abruptly slammed the man face down on the ground using an arm-bar takedown. As the man's face collided with the dirt, breaking his nose and stunning him, Adam picked up the fallen sword and shoved it into the soil next to the man's head and walked away.

A woman with another sheathed sword stepped in front of him. "Stop," she said quietly.

"Step aside, please," he repeated again.

As the woman started to draw her sword, Adam vanished again. Completing the shundo, he reappeared behind her and promptly slammed the heel of his open palm near the junction of her right shoulder and neck. Her eyes rolled up as the brachial-stun took her down. Her sword was also plunged into the ground next to her head.

He started for the door a third time and a teenaged girl started to step into his way. He stared at her for a moment and then he shook his head. She paused for a moment and then she carefully backed away. Adam nodded at her and then he left through the door. He crossed the compound and exited back out through the same postern gate that he had originally entered through. He paused near his truck, took one last look around, and then he drove away.

OOO

Megumi and Elena watched quietly as Urashima finished up his fight with Kazuyo. Today had been just one surprising event after another.

"It's hard to believe that Urashima knows and was able to use the 'True Thunder-Light Sword' technique," Elena commented quietly.

"I believe that he has proven beyond a doubt that he is descended from Shinmei-ryu ancestors," Megumi said. She took another glance at Akira, who was still taping the duel. That videotape would be quite valuable and Megumi had no intentions of letting the girl run off with it. She gestured to a couple of nearby women, who came closer.

"Waki-san," she said. "I want you to keep an eye on Akira-chan. When this is all over, I want you to confiscate the video that she's filming. You are to question her and find out what led up to this duel. Also search Kazuyo-san's office and look for supporting evidence. In the meantime, make sure that she keeps filming."

"Yes, Megumi-sama."

"Chizuka-san," she continued. "I want you to round up some assistants. I want all of the witnesses here interviewed and their statements recorded. I want to know everything that they observed or felt with their senses. We might have a chance to recover some of our lost knowledge and I don't want this opportunity to slip past."

"Yes, Megumi-sama," Chizuka said.

"Also spread the word. I don't want anyone to interfere with Urashima-san. Unless he gets out of control, I want him left alone. Have Kazuyo taken to the infirmary and held there. Don't let her talk to anyone until she's been debriefed."

Chizuka nodded and then hurried away to carry out her orders. Waki moved over to stand near Akira.

In a matter of minutes, the fight was done. Adam had shattered Kazuyo's sword and then walked away from her. He appeared to be peacefully leaving the courtyard when someone deliberately got in his way.

"Oh, no!" Erena moaned. "Fusao's going to be an idiot. And he's dragging his cousin along for the ride."

In less than thirty seconds, both Fusao and his cousin Ema had been put down hard, and Adam had departed through the door.

"I don't think he was in the mood to play," Erena commented. "At least Kahori-chan showed some good sense."

Megumi was looking around the trashed courtyard when a glint came into her eye. "Well," she said. "If Fusao and Ema have enough energy to needlessly get themselves into trouble, then they should have plenty of energy to repair the courtyard."

"And the detail will also give them plenty of time to contemplate on their sins," Erena grinned. "After they get out of the infirmary, of course," she added.

Current Time:

Naru quietly prowled the hallways of Hinata House, her thoughts a mass of conflicting emotions. What should she do? It was apparent to her from looking at the unfortunate photograph that she had found the evening before that Mutsumi was most likely Keitaro's "promise girl." Keitaro and Mutsumi even had identical stories about meeting someone as a child and promising to get into Tokyo U together. "I wonder what Keitaro would do if I showed him this picture?" Naru said quietly while fingering the dreaded photograph.

"Who is going to do what?" a voice suddenly said, startling Naru from her reverie. She looked up to see Keitaro and Mutsumi standing in front of her with big smiles on their faces. She guiltily hid the picture behind her back.

"What are you hiding there?" Keitaro said while pointing at Naru's arm.

"Nothing!" Naru replied. "What are you two doing here?"

"We were looking for you," Mutsumi said. "We were supposed to study together this afternoon. Remember?"

"Are you feeling okay," Keitaro said. "You've been acting strange since the party. Did you eat a bad potato or something?"

"Oh my," Mutsumi commented while holding her hand to her mouth. "That's a horrible thing to happen!"

"No. I'm fine," Naru replied.

"Do you have a fever?" Keitaro asked, and then placed his hand against Naru's forehead.

"I SAID I'M FINE!" Naru yelled.

"Oh, no," Keitaro panicked. "She's mad!" He began to flail his arms about when Naru grabbed him around the neck.

"You just don't understand," she said.

Mutsumi began to giggle as she watched their interaction. "You two sure do get along well together. It's as if you were meant to be together. I'm jealous."

"Mutsumi… Please don't tease us like that," Keitaro said while backing away from Naru.

Naru huffed angrily for a moment then made a quick decision in her mind. She would wait until after the upcoming tests before she made her decision. "If we're going to study then we better get started," she said.

"Yeah!" Mutsumi cheered while holding her fist high. "Go, Exam Losers!"

"Mutsumi," Naru winced. "I still don't want to be an exam loser. Let's go!"

As the door to room 304 slid closed with a dull thud, the door to room 303 quietly opened and Adam stepped out into the now deserted hallway. "Exam Losers?" he said with a grin on his face.

He headed down the stairs and out of a rear door that led to the south side of the old inn. There was a small parking lot and a garage there next to a steep driveway that wound down the hill to exit onto the street near Haruka's teahouse. It was the only way to actually drive up to the building and Hina kept a pair of vans stored in the garage there, which had mostly been used during its days as an inn. Adam had parked his small truck there earlier. It contained a load of furniture that he would need for his new quarters. He grabbed a large, rolled up futon and headed back up to his room.

After a dozen trips, and a scuffle with a Western-style sofa, he finally had everything settled into his room. Add another hour for unpacking most of his boxes, and he was all set. After storing the empty cartons up in the old attic, Adam decided to wander around the building until dinner time.

He was just approaching his room when the door to 304 suddenly burst open and Keitaro was splattered against the opposite wall. He slowly slid down the wall and came to rest upside down on the floor, his eyes swirling in their sockets. "I can explain," he muttered quietly to himself. A pretty young woman with light brown hair stuck her head out of the empty doorway and glared at the crash victim. She then turned around and growled at Adam, "Well, what do you want?"

Adam glanced at Naru, then at his nephew. He shrugged his shoulders and continued strolling down the hallway. "Not a thing," he commented as he walked by. _If nothing else, it looks like staying here will be entertaining_, he thought to himself.

As he was descending the stairs, he met a younger girl with dark-blue hair coming up from below. She paused when she saw him, then she gave him a shy smile. "Hello," she said. "You must be Keitaro's uncle."

"Yes, I am," he replied with a smile. "You can call me Adam if you wish."

She blushed and smiled. "Thank you, Adam. I was just coming to tell everyone that dinner will be ready shortly."

"Thank you. Then, I guess I'll head that way."

As they passed on the staircase, Adam reached out and ruffled the hair on top Shinobu's head. She giggled and blushed some more, and then she hurried on her way.

After glancing into the dining area and seeing that nobody was there yet, he decided to wait just outside the door.

The first person to arrive was Haruka, who stood there puffing on her ever-present cancer stick. "How's it going," she said. "Are you all settled in, now?"

"Mostly," he replied. "I haven't met many of the residents here yet."

"We'll take care of that in a few minutes," she replied. "How are you doing otherwise"" she asked quietly.

Adam got a subdued look on his face for a moment, and then he replied, "I'm dealing with it. I miss her a lot, and I keep expecting her to walk into the room at odd moments, but I've come to accept things as they are."

Haruka gave him a quick squeeze on the shoulder, and then she gestured into the dining room. "Let's have a seat while we're waiting on the others." She took a seat at the foot of the table and Adam took the seat to her right.

The first one through the door was a tall, raven-haired beauty wearing a red hakama and a white gi. He recognized Motoko from their brief meeting that morning. If he looked carefully, he could vaguely trace the remnants of his childhood friend in her features. She was definitely an Aoyama. She had that look. He felt his heart jump for a moment, and then he got control of himself and sat with a neutral look on his face.

Motoko paused for a moment when she saw Adam and Haruka sitting there, and then she nodded at Haruka and sat near the other end of the table.

Adam definitely detected some chilly vibes coming from that direction.

The next person through the door was the little bluenette, followed by Keitaro. They both went into the kitchen and started carrying out bowls and platters and setting them on the table.

Then two young blonds came storming into the room. He recognized one as a past acquaintance: Sarah McDougal, the adopted daughter of his friend Seta Noriyasu. The darker-skinned of the two hopped onto a chair and then began to stare at Adam with big green eyes. "Who are you?" she asked. "Did you bring me some food?"

Adam smirked at her and Haruka smiled and told her to wait for a few minutes for an introduction.

A dark-haired beauty with a large chest walked through the door, followed by the rather violent girl from earlier. One woman was wearing a big smile and the other a big frown as they sat at the table.

Finally, a young, gray-haired woman with fox eyes strolled into the room and took a seat. She was the other woman from earlier in the day. Keitaro then sat across from the two brunettes, and the shy bluenette girl sat across from Adam.

"Now that everyone is here," Haruka said, "I'd like to introduce you to my brother, Adam Urashima."

"Hello," Adam said with a smile. The response that he got in return varied from "hello" to a few grunts and "hurumphs."

Haruka gestured at the bluenette. "This is Shinobu Maehara. She does most of the cooking around here. Next to her is Sarah McDougal, whom you already know. The hyperactive one is Kaolla Su. Next to her is Motoko Aoyama. At the end of the table is Mitsune Konno, with Naru Narusegawa sitting next to her. Then there's Keitaro, of course. And sitting next to you is Mutsumi Otohime, who is one of our relatives from Okinawa."

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you," Adam said with another smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Sugar," Kitsune said with a considering look. "If you ever need some help or advice, or just someone friendly to snuggle up with, you come and see me."

"Kitsune," Naru said angrily. "How can you say things like that? You never know where this guy's been. He's probably a pervert just like every other guy. If he gets you alone, who knows what he'll do."

Motoko just gave Kitsune a disgusted look.

"You're all just upset because I called him first."

"Please!" Naru said while rolling her eyes.

Kitsune just snickered while taking a sip of her favorite beverage – sake.

Adam glanced over at Haruka and slightly raised his left eyebrow – _Huh?_ She returned his look by slightly raising both eyebrows and minutely shrugging her left shoulder – _Whatever!_

The rest of the meal flew by quickly. Some of the girls talked quietly amongst themselves with an occasional glance at Adam. Haruka kept to herself and surreptitiously observed the girls. Adam relaxed and enjoyed the food and carefully analyzed the vibes and ki signatures that he was getting from his new housemates.

After dinner was done, he thanked Shinobu for a wonderful meal and then headed back to his room. He needed some time to meditate and to go over the events of the day. He sat on the floor in his room and just let his mind relax. After about an hour or so, he suddenly felt the approach of a female energy and then his master stepped into the room.

OOO

Motoko was feeling antsy. She didn't know exactly why, but the new guy was really bothering her. She had never been happy with the idea of having a male staying in the dormitory to begin with, and now he was staying in the room right next to hers. No matter what she did, she couldn't get the guy out of her mind. It was eating away at her like some sort of a cancer. _Arghh!_, she yelled in her mind. _Maybe I should spend some time practicing my katas, followed by some meditation and a soak in the hot-spring_. With that plan in mind, she grabbed her sword from its rack and headed for the roof.

When she stepped into the hallway, she stopped in surprise. She felt a strange presence in the corridor with her – not an evil energy, just an unusual one. Not seeing anything at first, she carefully let her ki senses probe the area around her. Soon she saw a figure walking down the hall towards her. It was a tall woman wearing a peach-colored robe of some light weight material that seemed to flow around her. She had long, raven-colored hair and intelligent, olive-green eyes that glinted with a sense of humor. There was a faint golden glow that surrounded her. Motoko realized that the woman was not a physical being, and that she was only able to see the woman because of her highly-trained ki senses. The mysterious lady stopped in front of Adam's room, gave Motoko a friendly wink and a wave, and then she walked right through the wall.

"I knew that having another male here was going to be a problem," Motoko muttered darkly to herself. "He's already bringing his doxies into our home. He's going to have some serious explaining to do later."

With that, Motoko continued her stalk towards the roof.

End of Chapter

A/N: All of the Shinmei-ryu techniques used in this story, with the exception of a couple of "lost techniques," are genuine. They were used by Motoko and Tsuruko in the Love Hina manga or by Setsuna and Toko-sensei in the Negima! manga (both by Ken Akamatsu). The body movements and postures used in these techniques were also taken from the mangas, as were the various amounts of damage caused by the different types of ki attacks.

Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" and "Negima!" are the creative property of Ken Akamatsu and his associates. Any new characters not included in the original mangas or the Love Hina anime (written by Shō Aikawa) are my own creative property.

Chapter Three (Revised)

Keitaro was having a wonderful dream about his promise girl. It was the one in which Grandma Hina had introduced him to a new playmate at the park. They played in the sandbox together and had fun with her Liddo-kun plushie. As the dream was about to end, the little girl suddenly morphed into an adult Mutsumi Otohime, who then began to kiss him.

Keitaro's eyes popped open and he realized that he was kissing Tama-chan. The shock of the situation drove most the dream right out of his mind. The rest vanished a few minutes later as Sarah and Su pounced on him in the hallway.

"Happy Christmas Eve," Su said while providing Keitaro with his "good morning" kick to the head.

"Yeah," Sarah said. "Give us presents!"

After picking himself up off the floor, Keitaro said "You'll have to wait until later for your presents." He mentally slapped himself in the head for forgetting the date. "Breakfast should be ready shortly."

OOO

Naru sat at the breakfast table and picked at her food. Her appetite was off again this morning. Yesterday, her plan to get Keitaro and Mutsumi together had backfired on her and now Keitaro was even more attached to her than before. Naru had even tried telling Mutsumi that Keitaro was her promise boy, but that plan had also failed miserably. She just didn't know what to do. She was also being troubled by a series of nightmares that kept interrupting her already restless sleep. As the other girls and Keitaro joined her at the table, Naru decided to let the problem alone for the time being... again.

After a while, Keitaro looked around the table and said, "Hey, where's Uncle Adam at?"

Haruka looked up from her bowl of miso soup and replied, "He got a phone call earlier this morning. He told me to let you know that he was going to be gone for a few days. He left about a half hour ago."

Motoko, who was sitting next to Haruka, frowned at her toast. Now she was going to have to wait for a few days before she could question Adam about his strange visitor last night. She then glanced at Haruka and was about to ask her a question, when she paused, having second thoughts about it.

Haruka noticed Motoko open her mouth to speak and then hesitate. "Is there something on your mind, Motoko?" she asked.

Motoko hesitated for another moment and then she quietly asked, "Does your brother know anything about spirits?"

Haruka raised her eyebrow at the question. "Why do you ask?" she answered quietly in return. She looked carefully around the table and saw that they were being ignored by the other girls, and Keitaro was busy talking with Kitsune.

Motoko also glanced quickly around the table, and then said, "I saw something unusual in the hallway last night and it seemed to be associated with your brother."

Haruka looked at the kendoka carefully and then replied, "I take it that whatever you saw wasn't harmful. To answer your question: yes. Adam has degrees in both metaphysics and history, so he definitely knows something about spirits. Also be aware that he has absolutely zero tolerance for any negative entities. That's all that I'll say on the topic, for now. You need to talk to him about whatever you saw."

Motoko nodded and then returned to munching on her toast.

Keitaro quickly finished his meal and then stood up from the table. "Shinobu," he said. "Do you need help with the grocery shopping this morning?"

Shinobu smiled shyly and said, "No, Sempai. Naru-sempai is going to be helping me today."

"All right then," he said. "I'll be gone for most of the day finishing up my Christmas shopping."

Kitsune took a sip of her sake and said, "Don't forget that we're having a Christmas party this evening."

"I won't," he said as he headed for the door.

OOO

Keitaro did spend most of the day shopping for his friends. Some of the girls were easy to shop for, and others were more difficult. It was Naru's gift that caused him the most concern, because he wanted it to be just right. Eventually, he found himself standing outside of a department store and gazing into a display window that contained a beautiful red coat with cream-colored trim: the perfect gift. He hurried inside to claim his prize.

As he left the store, he found himself facing a smiling Mutsumi Otohime, who was wearing a very feminine Santa suit and hat. She looked absolutely gorgeous standing there in the lightly falling snow. Keitaro looked into her warm brown eyes and started to blush.

"Urashima," she said, her smile growing even wider.

"Hi, Mutsumi," he said. "What's with the outfit?"

Mutsumi ignored the question and asked, "What are you doing here?'

"I guess you didn't know that we're having a Christmas party tonight and I'm shopping for presents. You're welcome to join the party. I'm sure that everyone would love to have you there."

Mutsumi smiled again. "I'd love to be there, but I have a holiday job selling Christmas cakes and I won't get off until late tonight."

"I'm sorry to hear that. You're still welcome if you get the time. It'll probably still be going when you get home."

Without even knowing why, he quickly pulled Mutsumi into a quick hug and then took of running across the street. "See you later, Mutsumi," he called out, just before bouncing off the front of an oncoming car. He picked himself up and then continued on down the street, a happy smile gracing his face.

On his way back to the dormitory, Keitaro's mind kept wandering back to Mutsumi and how beautiful she was. "No... Bad thoughts!" Keitaro chastised himself. "…Must only think about Naru! Just Naru!"

Mutsumi watched as Keitaro hurried away down the street and then she touched her hand to her cheek and smiled. She felt a warm glow coming from inside of herself. This was the first time that Keitaro had ever physically expressed his fondness for her and it had totally made her day… err, her evening.

Carefully, she re-crossed the street to get back in front of the bakery. Soon, a small crowd of people had collected around her as some last minute shoppers realized that there were still some Christmas cakes available for purchase. Within five minutes, Mutsumi had sold out the last of her inventory. The owner of the bakery was very happy and, as a bonus, he had slipped some extra money into her pay envelope.

On her way back to the Hinata Inn, Mutsumi walked slowly along the street while enjoying the falling snow. As she passing a small park, she decided to stop and rest on one of the benches and do some thinking.

Her relationship with Keitaro and Naru was very confusing. From the moment that she had met them, she had felt as if she had known them for years. She found herself strongly attracted to Keitaro – in fact she had a sneaking suspicion that she was actually in love with him. On the other hand, she knew that Naru was secretly attracted to Keitaro and so she didn't want to do anything that would hurt her friend. Keitaro was obviously attracted to Naru, so Mutsumi had two good reasons not to rock the boat. The trouble was that it left her having to deny her own feelings. But she was willing to do so if it would bring happiness to her two friends.

Mutsumi looked up into the softly falling snow and sighed.

When Keitaro got back home, the Christmas party was in full swing. The girls had gotten into the spirit of things and had dressed up in pseudo-Santa and elf costumes. With his usual luck, Keitaro got mugged for his Christmas gifts almost as soon as he walked through the door. And, of course, his choice for presents wasn't exactly stellar: he somehow survived giving Motoko a bra (she was too shocked and embarrassed to smack him for his presumption), though Sarah almost killed him with her new talking artifact. He held his gift back from Naru and quietly asked that she meet him in the park, so that he could give it to her in private.

After a while, Keitaro managed to sneak away from the party to meet with Naru. He was in a hurry to get there, because it had started to snow again, and he didn't want her to get too cold. When he arrived, he saw Naru bent over in the old sandbox and gazing at a mound in the sand. He approached her quickly, holding her gift bag before him. Then things suddenly got very complicated.

"Naru, I want to wish you a merry Christmas. Here!" Keitaro said while holding out his gift.

Naru looked up at him… and it was Mutsumi?

"Mutsumi! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hi Urashima. I got off work early because we sold out of Christmas cakes. I was walking back and decided to stop at this park. It felt very friendly."

As Keitaro was looking at Mutsumi standing there in front of the sandbox, he suddenly had a flashback to the dream that he'd had that morning. The little girl playing with him in the sandbox had also been named Mutsumi. Did that mean that Mutsumi was Mutsumi? Was this Mutsumi his promise girl? As he stood there contemplating the possibilities, he saw her shiver in the cold, so he removed his coat and wrapped it about her shoulders.

"Listen, Mutsumi. The party is still going on. Why don't you head up there and have something to eat and drink, and warm up. I'll be up in a little bit."

"Thank you, Urashima," she said. She suddenly reached up and removed his glasses, and then planted a big kiss on his lips.

"Mutsumi," Keitaro stuttered. "Why did you do that?"

"Because I suddenly felt very comfortable around you," she replied.

"And because she is the one intended for you," the voice of Naru suddenly said.

Keitaro spun around and saw that Naru was standing right behind them. Obviously she had seen and heard everything. Suddenly, Keitaro got very nervous. "What do you mean?" he said.

"You two are meant for each other," she said. "You are each other's promised one." She smiled at them for a moment, and then her face began to collapse into tears. "I wish you all the best?" she said as she suddenly dashed away.

As Naru ran away, she dropped the picture that she had been carrying. Mutsumi picked it up and looked at it. "Urashima, it's a picture of you and me playing in the sandbox as children."

"Huh!" Keitaro said as he looked over Mutsumi's shoulder. "It is us! Maybe you are my promise girl. We can talk about it later. Right now, we have to catch up to Naru."

After dashing along, they managed to catch Naru in the business section of town. Naru tried to run again, but Keitaro managed to snag her hand, holding on to it tightly. Then he and Naru and Mutsumi sat down in a still-opened restaurant to have some tea and to talk over the situation. Keitaro eventually told Naru that he was still very much attracted to her and that there was no way that he could choose between the two of them at this time. Both of the girls were understanding about the situation, and Keitaro managed to avoid making a very tough decision, at least for the time being.

The three eventually made it back to Hinata House, where they enjoyed the rest of the Christmas Eve party.

Two Years Earlier:

Megumi Aoyama gazed sadly at the new grave marker that had recently been placed in the Aoyama family cemetery. The polished stone marker simply read: "Kazuyo Aoyama-Taikono (1956 - 2009). Honor Regained in Death." She was so deep in thought that she didn't realize that she had company, until the sound of a clearing throat alerted her. She looked up at the newcomer and saw that it was Tsuruko Aoyama, the current head of the Shinmei-ryu School, who had just returned from her vacation.

Tsuruko looked at the grave marker and then at Megumi. "I see that a lot has happened here since I left last month," Tsuruko quietly said. "Why don't we go inside and talk?"

OOO

Megumi leaned back in the low sofa as her story came to an end. "… and after they got Kazuyo to the infirmary they found that she had only minor injuries. She refused to explain her actions or to justify her attack against Urashima. Two days later, she petitioned the council for permission to commit seppuku. The council denied her request pending further investigation. The next day she hanged herself."

"That wasn't exactly the honorable thing for her to do, though I suppose she did pay off her debt," Tsuruko stated quietly.

"That was the way that the council took it," Megumi replied.

"So, what happened with Urashima?" Tsuruko asked.

"That seems to be the only possible ray of sunshine in this whole mess. Waki searched Kazuyo's office and found the packet of documentation that Urashima had been asked to bring to the meeting. It was in her trash can. That was turned over to Mutsuo to work on. In addition, as Urashima was leaving the compound after the fight, he left two medallions. They were older Shinmei-ryu issued medals. Both are similar to the medallions that used to be worn to designate the heir. They were both apparently over a hundred years old. Mutsuo is also having them examined."

"How was it that Kazuyo became involved with Urashima's case? Didn't you say that Mutsuo was given that task?" Tsuruko asked.

Megumi sighed. "Apparently Kazuyo approached Mutsuo and convinced him that she already new some things about Urashima and had a special interest in him. Mutsuo already had several other projects going and was easily persuaded to let her perform the investigation. He is very sorry that he let himself be convinced and has thrown himself into the current investigation."

"And what about Urashima?"

"He has apparently refused to return any of our phone calls," Megumi replied sadly.

"You said that his name is Adam Urashima? And that he is related to Hina Urashima?"

"Yes, I did," Megumi replied. "Apparently he used to visit the dojo as a child."

Tsuruko thought about it for a moment, and then said "I remember playing with him as a child. Motoko used to follow him around as a favorite playmate when he visited." She paused a moment in thought. _So… Adam-kun is likely a distant cousin…_ She brought her attention back to the present. "I want to see the video that was taken of the fight. If Urashima has indeed inherited some of the lost techniques of the Shinmei-ryu, we need to find a way to convince him to share his knowledge with us."

There was a loud tapping on the hall door, which was then quietly slid open to the side. Mutsuo stood in the open doorway with a packet in his hand. "Tsuruko-sama, Megumi-sama, I have the tentative results of our investigation into Adam Urashima."

"Come on in and have a seat, Mutsuo," Tsuruko said.

Mutsuo sat in a low padded chair and proceeded to pull some papers from the packet. "As you know," Mutsuo began, "Adam Urashima contacted us earlier this month in regards to an ancestor that he believed may have been related to our clan. He gave us the name of Nonoko Aoyama and a date of birth, and said that she was known to be from the Kyoto area. Emori checked the old family birth registers and he found that a woman of our clan did possess the name and date of birth that Urashima had provided to us. The trouble is that Nonoko was not known to have married. She was the designated heir to assume leadership of the school when her father retired from that position. This was in the late 1890's and early 1900's. According to the records, she is known to have been an exceptional and gifted swordswoman. There was a reference made to the fact that she was supposed to be engaged to marry a member of the Kamishiro clan – an arranged marriage. The records stop there. There is no mention of a marriage or of what eventually became of Nonoko. The records from that time period aren't very complete. There was a killer flu epidemic that struck this area around 1903, and many clan members and students died. There was also that strange fire that destroyed part of the archives during that same time period. Nonoko was assumed to have perished during the epidemic."

Megumi was nodding her head as Mutsuo finished talking. She was aware of the memorial stone set outside of the east wall that marked a mass grave that dated to that particular tragedy. "Yes, that is what was presented at the council meeting. I recall that Urashima was asked to submit any evidence or records that he had making the connection with our Nonoko. Isn't that what was turned over to you last week?"

"Indeed it was," Mutsuo replied with a hint of a smile in his eyes. "Among the documents was a certificate of marriage between Nonoko Aoyama and Seito Urashima, both of Kyoto. The marriage was registered in Sitemoe, which was a small coastal town that was eventually absorbed into Tokyo just before World War I. We were able to locate the depository for the old town records, and to verify the marriage of our Nonoko Aoyama in October of 1902 to Seito Urashima. This Seito Urashima was a member of the same Urashima clan of which Hina Urashima is the current head."

"Fantastic!" Megumi said happily. Tsuruko smiled a wide smile.

"Also, as an aside," Mutsuo said. "The two medallions that Urashima left have been identified based on their markings. The first one was given to Nonoko Aoyama when she was declared the heir of the school in 1898. The second medallion belonged to Sayoko Aoyama, who was Nonoko's grandmother and the leader of the school during the 1880's. Nonoko's father became head of the school after Sayoko stepped down."

"If the medals are family heirlooms, then it's almost a given that Urashima's story is true," Megumi declared.

"Using Urashima's documents as a guide," Mutsuo continued. "We were able to verify that Seito and Nonoko Urashima boarded the steamship _Emily Gardner_ in November 1902, bound from Tokyo to San Francisco, in California, one of the United States. Emori hired a researcher in California who was able to obtain copies of the Urashima's emigration records and later their naturalization records. They became American citizens in 1921. They acquired a large track of land north of San Francisco, and made a living growing fruits and later they started a winery. The family also owns a small martial arts dojo. Seito and Nonoko had four children: three daughters and one son. The son, Daisuke Urashima, inherited the property and school. An unmarried sister, Hatsu Urashima, remained with him and helped to run the school. He married a Kathleen McIntyre and they had three children: a son and two daughters. The son, James Urashima, became the heir. He married Ann Takayama and they had one son and one daughter. The son, Allen Urashima, was Adam's father, and heir. His sister, Maria, never married and helped him to manage the family businesses. Allen married Sharon Springfield and they had one son, who is Adam. His parents were killed in a traffic accident and he was adopted by Hina Urashima. His aunt still manages the family businesses when Adam is abroad. The researcher was very thorough."

"So it's been verified," Tsuruko said quietly.

"Yes, it has," Mutsuo replied. "By the way, the family winery is called Morning Star Winery and is very well known."

"Okay, then," Tsuruko said. "Let's see if we can get Urashima to talk to us." She thought for a moment and then said, "Maybe Hina-sama can help us to contact him."

OOO

Adam Urashima sat quietly in a meditative posture; the California sun warming his shoulders. The sound of the wind whistling happily through the grape vines gradually faded away. His mind softly relaxed and he focused deeply within himself. He felt a warm glow surrounding his awareness. He had always enjoyed his sessions of meditation. They allowed him the time and opportunity to examine the course and events in his life, to impartially review his training regimens and progress, and the luxury of fully relaxing his body. Meditation was sometimes also the best way to acquire new information regarding the metaphysical side of his life.

After enjoying the glowing warmth of his inner self for a time, he detected the approach of another being. Soon a woman stood before him in his mind's eyes. She was tall, with long, black hair that fell to her waist. She wore a peach-colored, light-weight, flowing robe that seemed to move and flow on its own accord, drifting about her. He could not discern her face due to a white glow that camouflaged her features, but he always knew when her eyes were focused upon him. He could definitely feel them. It was his long-time spiritual guide and master.

_Good day, Master,_ he thought quietly to the being.

_And a good day to you too, Adam,_ she replied. _It's been awhile since we last talked. We need to review the events surrounding your fight with Kazuyo Taikono._

_Do we really need to go there? That was a very unpleasant event that is over with, as far as I'm concerned,_ Adam said.

_Actually, it's not even close to being finished. This was a critical event in your life, and the shock waves that are rippling outwards will go on for some time. It's going to draw some new elements into your life: both good and not so good. You need to understand what is going on so that you can handle the results gracefully when they return to you. _

Adam sighed to himself then nodded. Yes, Master.

_Now, about Kazuyo… Did you know that she has passed over?_

_No. There is no reason that I would have known. I don't think I injured her enough to kill her body. When did she die?_

_She took her own life several days after your fight. She is currently in a hibernation-like state due to the shock of her passing. Eventually she will come out of her self-imposed hell and other beings will work with her to overcome her situation._

_Why did she kill herself?_

_There were a couple of reasons. The ultimate reason was that you soundly defeated her and trampled on her pride as a warrior. Even though you have spent much time in Japan, there are still parts of the engrained Japanese spirit that you do not fully comprehend. I know that you understand the concepts mentally, but you just don't feel it as they do. Because of her own acts and then the fact that you demolished her and then spared her life, she had to kill herself. She felt that she had no other choice._

_I do understand it. It just seems to me that the whole ritualized suicide thing is a waste and often a cop-out. Historically, it was a way for the warlords and people in power to control their samurai: you don't complete your orders or shame yourself in some other fashion and you get to cut your own belly open – and you know you don't want to do that! Forget the code of Bushido and go wipe out that village that belongs to the other warlord. Obviously I don't agree with it, but I do honor her choice. It is where she was in her spiritual development._

_There were some other factors besides her honor that were involved as well. She didn't tell anyone at the school or in her family, but she was dying of cancer. She had less than four months to live at the time of your fight. Because of this, she also wasn't in her top form and she wasn't drawing her ki energy the way she used to. The reason that she attacked you was because she never liked you. Even as a child, your vibes clashed with hers. She just instinctively didn't like you and manufactured dark motives for anything that you did. When you came to her attention again recently, she saw a good chance to kill two birds with one stone. There were several possibilities that could come out of the conflict. One: You killed her in the duel, putting her out of her misery and making you unwelcome at the school. Two: She killed you and lacking a justifiable reason, she would be allowed to kill herself, again ending her misery. Three: The least acceptable outcome. You give up without a fight and she is able to keep you away from the school. However, she would also have to find another way to honorably end her life. _

_So all that grief was just a way to find an excuse to die? She should have just fallen on her sword!_

_Also, just so you know, the Aoyama family had no idea about what was going on with Kazuyo. She tricked one of their members into allowing her to do your interview. The Aoyama family is in shock over what happened. They have also accepted you as a legitimate member of their clan and would very much like to contact you. I think you should talk to them, but it is entirely your decision._

_After all that's happened, I am really hesitant about reestablishing contact with the Aoyamas. Why do you think that it's important that I talk to them? _

The white glow that had always masked his master's face began to dim and then it vanished. For the first time in his life, he was able to really see her face. It was a face that he recognized from the old family photographs. It was the face of his great-grandmother, Nonoko Aoyama-Urashima. Her olive-green eyes were tinged with humor as she gazed steadily at him. After a moment, a smile broke out on her face as she acknowledged his recognition.

_I can't really go into my reasons at this time. However, I truly believe that it is in yours and the Aoyama Family's best interests that you establish the contact. Besides, I don't think you'll want to miss out on all the potentials that will result from the contact._

Adam smiled back at her and said, _Since you put it that way, I'll have to reestablish contact just out of curiosity. I know that curiosity killed the cat, but…_ He shrugged his shoulders. He then glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. _Well, Grandmother, don't think that I don't know that you just played me like a fiddle._

Nonoko smiled at him and replied, _Actually, I always preferred the cello. How about we work on your shundo skills? Then we'll spend some time on increasing your life-force energy levels._

_Yes, Ma'am_, Adam replied.

After spending about an hour in intensive training with his master, Adam's meditation was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. He opened his eyes and then reached into his aquamarine-colored gi. Pulling out his phone, he flipped open the cover and placed it to his ear. "Hello," he said.

_Hello, son,_ Hina said into his ear. _I just got a call from Tsuruko Aoyama at the Gods' Cry School. She would really like to get into contact with you._

Adam lifted an eye brow and the corner of his mouth lifted into an ironic smile. "Yes, Ma'am," he replied.

Current Time:

Adam drove his truck along the wide street running through the Mahora Academy campus and town. As he turned onto a side street, he thought back to the call that he had received early that morning from Takamichi T. Takahata. The last time that he had talked to Takamichi had been at his wife's funeral, a little more than four months ago. _I guess this means that my bereavement leave is about up_, Adam thought to himself.

Takamichi had called that morning and asked if Adam wouldn't mind doing some security work for the Academy for a few days. Apparently the Kanto Magic Association, headed by Dean Konoe, was having a conflict with the Tokai Magic Association, after just having finished negotiations with the Kansai Magic Association. Dean Konoe was worried that the conflict might spill over onto the Mahora campus, so they were trying to recruit some extra security personnel for a few days until the negotiations were completed. Adam really didn't mind helping out as he was beginning to get a little stir crazy; though he had to admit that staying at Hinata House looked like it might be entertaining.

Adam pulled into a side parking lot near a large building that he recalled as being the Administration Building, next to which was a larger building with a clock tower that contained the junior high school. After getting out of his truck, he finished arming himself and placed light-blurring shields to camouflage his weapons' presence; which is a standard tactic used by certain schools to conceal live blades and other weapons that are generally illegal to carry in public (Which answers the question of "Where did he/she keep that thing?").

After entering through the glassed double doors and into the entryway, Adam met a woman walking by with long, light-brown hair and wearing glasses and a lavender turtleneck sweater. She was quite definitely a female. She stopped when she saw Adam and said, "Hi, can I help you?"

"I hope so," he said with a smiled. "I was supposed to meet Takamichi Takahata-sensei here at 10 A.M."

She smiled back. "You must be Adam Urashima-san," she said. "My name is Shizuna Minamoto. I'm a councilor here. Takahata-sensei got called away and he asked me to keep an eye out for you. I need to take you to see Dean Konoe. Please follow me."

They climbed up four flights of stairs and entered onto the third floor. Soon they stood in front of a heavy wooden door and Shizuna knocked loudly before cracking open the door and sticking her head in. "Dean Konoe," she said. "I have Urashima-san here to see you."

"Come on in," a wizened voice replied.

Shizuna swung open the door and she and Adam entered the huge office space. Behind a large Western-style desk that was backed by several large windows stood Konoemon Konoe, the Dean of the Mahora Academy and head of the Kanto Magic Association. He was about five feet tall and wore blue robes with some small diamond patterns near his shoulders. His head was bald except for a long, white topknot in the back. He had a long, white beard and mustache, and his bushy white eyebrows hung halfway down his face. Finally, he had long, drooping earlobes that were pierced with golden hoops that almost touched his shoulders. He was one of the most unique appearing characters that Adam could recall ever meeting. Adam also noted that there was an incredible amount of energy swirling around the older man.

Shizuna and Adam stopped in front of the desk. The Dean gave Adam a deep, searching look and then nodded to himself. "Takamichi-sensei has spoken highly of you, Urashima-san," he said. "I understand that you know about the magic world?"

Adam nodded at him. "Yes, Dean Konoe-sama, I do," he said.

"Good," he said. "Oh, you can just call me Dean. Anyway, twelve years ago, which was the last time that our association had a conflict with the Tokai Association, they used demons to target some of our magical students. The students were hard to protect then because they were spread out amongst the whole student body. We learned from that experience, so now we keep all of our magical and potentially magical students together in the same classes and housing units. That way they are better able to be protected and they can be more easily watched over by our magical staff, which also makes their management easier on a day-to-day basis."

Dean Konoe paused for a second to collect his thoughts and then he continued. "I talked with Toko Kuzunoha-sensei, who is in charge of security. She suggested that I assign you to security for class 2A in the junior high school division. You will be working with two of these students: Setsuna Sakurazaki, who is a Shinmei-ryu swordswoman, and Mana Tatsumiya, who is quite skilled with firearms. You'll probably be housed in 2A's dormitory, if we can locate an empty room."

"No problem," Adam said. "I'm living in a woman's dormitory right now. It's a long story," he said in a hurry as Dean Konoe started to ask a question. "And there's nothing improper involved."

The Dean continued, "During the day when classes are in session, you will be assisting the teachers assigned to 2A. In fact, Takamichi-sensei told me that you're qualified to teach history. Is that true?"

"Yes, sir."

"Great. We'll use you as the history teacher for 2A while you're here. Because of staffing issues due to the situation, classes will only be running for half a day this week. You'll be performing patrol duty for part of the afternoon/evening and night on a four hour rotation. You're relief team is Negi-sensei, who is the homeroom and English teacher for 2A, Kaede Nagase and Asuna Kagurazaka, who are both 2A students. If you have any questions, you can ask Shizuna-sensei, who will be teaching life science to 2A this week."

"Yes, sir," Adam replied. "I take it that Mahora Academy isn't on winter break now?"

"No, our winter break begins on New Years Day and runs for the first three weeks in January."

There came a knock at the door.

"Come in," Dean Konoe called out.

The door opened and two girls wearing the uniform of the Mahora Academy entered the room. Adam immediately recognized Setsuna Sakurazaki, who was his wife's cousin, as well as a friend. She had attended their wedding only eighteen months earlier and he had seen her several times since then. He smiled when he saw that, as always, she was carrying her nodachi in a canvas sleeve slung over her left shoulder. Nodachis are sometimes called Japanese long swords. They are four feet long, a foot longer than the standard katana, and cannot be worn at the waist due to their length. They are usually carried strapped on the back but they are too long to draw from that position as well, so they have to be removed before they can be accessed. Setsuna has always carried her nodachi on her shoulder so that it is quickly available.

The other girl was tall and dark-skinned. Her black hair was worn long, and she had locks hanging down on either side of her face that were tied up with white ribbons. Her brown eyes gave a cold stare, as if she was used to keeping her emotions locked down and in check. Adam felt himself being examined as soon she entered the room. He assumed that the tall girl was Mana.

What Mana saw was a young man slightly taller than she was, with short brown hair and hazel eyes and, like herself, of obviously of mixed descent. He was dressed in a short-sleeved, black golf shirt, khaki-colored cargo pants, and a black web belt and boots. She could sense that he was armed but she could not detect any specific weapons. He also had a strange energy field surrounding himself. _This ones going to be difficult to decipher_, she thought to herself.

Adam gave Setsuna a big smile and said, "Hey, Set-chan. How have you been?"

Setsuna gave Adam a surprised look and then she immediately blushed. She sputtered for a moment in embarrassment and the said, "Hi, Adam. I've been fine. What are you doing here?"

"Apparently, I'm going to be working with you for a few days. From what I've been able to gather, it would appear that cousin Toko had a hand in it."

The reunion was interrupted by the sound of a clearing throat. "I take it that you two know each other," Dean Konoe said.

Setsuna looked at the Dean said, "Yes, Konoe-sama. Adam-san is related to me by marriage; he was married to my cousin. He is also a member of the Aoyama family in his own right, although that is a very distant relationship. He's considered by the family to be a member of the Shinmei-ryu."

Dean Konoe looked surprised for a moment. "I see that both Takamichi-sensei and Toko-sensei left a few things out when they talked to me. We'll in any case; I don't need to introduce the two of you." He gestured at Mana and said, "Adam-san, this is Mana Tatsumiya. She will be your other partner. Mana-chan, this is Adam Urashima. You three will be working together for the next few days."

Mana nodded to the Dean and then returned her attention to studying Adam. Dean Konoe handed some papers around and said, "These are your schedules. You're first shift starts in two hours. You might as well get some lunch and get to know each other till then."

"Yes, sir," Adam said.

OOO

They spent most of the time sitting at an outside dining area that was located nearby to the junior high school sipping on iced teas. It was a fairly warm day, considering that it was winter. Mana mostly kept quiet, preferring to listen to Setsuna and Adam chatting happily together. It was interesting watching the normally taciturn Setsuna open up like a flower in the sun.

After about a half an hour of general catching up, Setsuna got a serious look on her face and took a deep breath. "Adam," she said. "I'm sorry that I wasn't able to attend the funeral. My duties here prevented my leaving."

Adam looked her in the eyes and smiled. "That's alright, Set-chan. Nobody thinks ill of you for missing the services."

She hedged again for a moment and then continued, "If it is not too painful for you, would you please tell me how my cousin Kamiko died? I wasn't told."

Adam thought about it for moment, and then he replied, "No, Set-chan, I don't mind telling you, although it still hurts a lot to think about. But you are family and have a right to know."

Mana watched him curiously as he began his story. "About four months ago, Kamiko and I received a request from the Shinmei-ryu to assist with the clearing of an old, abandoned tuberculosis hospital of the spirits that were believed to be infesting it. As you know, Kamiko was a highly trained priestess and exorcist, and I often traveled with her to her job sites. Besides being extra security, I'm also trained in exorcisms. When we arrived at the site, we met three other exorcists and seven swordsmen. We were deployed into four teams, each containing a priest or priestess and two swordsmen. Kamiko and I were assigned to different teams. We entered the hospital about midmorning, each team heading off in a different direction. My team began finding lost spirits almost immediately, and some of them were suspiciously freshly dead. This shouldn't have been so since the hospital was known to have been abandoned over thirty years earlier. After several hours of releasing many of the unhappy ghosts, we started to feel some odd vibrations and thudding that was transmitting through the floor. We found out later that two of the teams were working in different parts of the basement when a warp opened in the old morgue and dozens of demons poured out of the portal. One of the teams was overrun immediately and slaughtered. The second team, which included Kamiko, was able to hold its own for a while by backing into a small side room and defending the doorway. While the swordsmen held the door, Kamiko was able to destroy many of the demons using some magical paper talismans. They had almost succeeded in killing off the demons when suddenly ten large turtle demons appeared."

He paused for a moment to sip his drink, and then continued, "As you know, turtle demons are very powerful and are extremely well armored. If you get them outdoors where you have room to maneuver, you can destroy them using certain ki strikes." He glanced at Mana, "Steel jacketed or vernier rounds from a high-powered firearm are also useful. However, if you have the misfortune of being in limited quarters, such as in a building or cave, you can't use those tactics. You have to kill them the hard way: up close and personal. And in case you've never seen a turtle demon, they stand upright and are about nine feet tall. They also weigh in at around five hundred pounds. They don't generally use weapons; instead they depend on their brute strength. They take a lot of killing."

He paused again and frowned into his drink. "My team arrived just as the turtle demons overran Kamiko's team. They killed three of the demons before they went down. The swordsmen used powerful ki blasts so close to their targets that they were injured by their own attack. Only one survived and she's permanently crippled in one leg. Kamiko forced most of her energy into a powerful magical attack that fried one of the demons, but it left her weak and defenseless. A fourth turtle slapped her up against a concrete block wall. Kamiko had developed the same resistance to injury that I have; so she would normally be able to shake off a hit like that. But… she had totally depleted her energy reserves down to a dangerous level. When she struck the wall, it broke her neck. She died instantly…"

He was still looking deeply into his drink. After a moment he continued, "I won't say much about the fight that followed. The fourth team arrived in time to help. We destroyed every last demon that we could find, and we don't think any escaped. But in doing so, two more swordsmen were killed and the rest of us, including the two remaining exorcists, were all injured in some way."

He looked at the sky and watched a cloud swiftly scudding by overhead. "After the battle, the Shinmei-ryu sent a large team into the building to totally cleanse it. They figured that the new ghosts that we had found were recent victims of the demons. They also wanted to make sure that none of the spirits of our fallen people were left in limbo; that they were able to rest in peace… Anyway, that's what happened."

After a moment of silence, Setsuna said, "Thank you for telling me about it."

Adam nodded at her and then he checked his watch. "Our break time is ending. We need to get to our patrol area."

OOO

Their patrol sector was a large wooded area that extended in a long arch just to the east of the girls' dormitories. It was a semi-wild area that would be an ideal approach for any demons or other problem children who might be thinking of stirring up trouble.

The three had piled into Adam's truck and he had driven them to the other end of the campus where the housing units were located. He had parked near the building where the students for 2A were living, which was convenient for everyone.

They had been patrolling the woods for several hours and things seemed to be running smoothly. The three worked well together and they were able to operate without much talking. They just seemed to know what the others were thinking. With about an hour left of their shift, the three were creeping through the trees in a silent skirmish line, covering an area almost one hundred feet wide. Adam, who was covering the left flank, suddenly stopped and snapped his fingers once. Setsuna, who was in the center of line, heard the sound and also stopped and then repeated the signal for Mana, who was on the far right.

Adam closed his eyes and concentrated ahead. He had felt a short burst of energy coming from the direction that they were headed. It had felt like a magic portal opening. Slowly, he released a probe of ki energy and carefully sent it forward. The probe slid lightly forward and caressed… demons… six demons... six very strong demons.

Adam was startled by the muffled sound of a cell phone ringing. Setsuna pulled the phone out of a pocket and quickly flipped it open. "Yes," she said quietly. "Thanks, we'll check it out." She closed the phone and gestured for the others to join her. "That was Chachamaru. She said that Evangeline just felt something big crossing the barrier in our area."

"She's right," Adam said. "I just located six powerful demons nearby, at our one o'clock. They're about two hundred yards out."

"I'll take the high ground," Mana said. Snuggling her scoped sniper rifle to her chest, she started quietly jogging towards the ten o'clock position.

Adam and Setsuna drew their respective swords and began moving softly towards the target area. After a minute or so, Adam paused and sent out another feeler. He felt Setsuna doing the same.

"They're coming our way," he whispered. "…The whole group. They feel like more of those freak'in turtle demons!"

"Ambush or distant attack," Setsuna whispered back.

"A distant attack would be better in this case. Do you remember the 'True Thunder-Light Sword' technique?"

Setsuna nodded.

"We'll start out by taking down the two closest demons. I'll take the left one, you take the right. If we can get a second round off, use the same pattern. If we have to go hand-to-hand the best targets are the back of the knees and elbows, eyes, mouth, and ear holes. Most everywhere else is armored."

Setsuna nodded again. "Let's do it," she said.

There was a loud cracking noise and a tree standing sixty yards away snapped and fell to the right. Several grumbling turtle demons stepped into the new opening. There was a loud gunshot from a high-powered rifle and suddenly one of the turtles fell over to his left, his right ear hole spraying gore. Just before it hit the ground, the demon disintegrated into a swirling, dark mass and vanished.

Adam and Setsuna stepped away from each other and using both of their hands, they held their swords along their right sides and angled rearwards. Their swords and bodies suddenly began to glow with a soft, golden color. Then together they called out, "Shinmei-School Final Attack: True Thunder-Light Sword!" Fully synchronized, the two swung their swords in an upward and forward arc while at the same time leaning forward. As their swords curled over the tops of their right shoulders, their left hands dropped away, leaving their right hands to finish the swing. As the blades curled over and aimed towards the ground, a huge blast of energy launched from each. The energies sizzled as they arced upwards through the air, then they curled over and impacted right on top of their targets. The two turtles were annihilated.

Adam and Setsuna didn't have time to appreciate their victory, for out of the dust and smoke three more angry turtle demons came storming down upon them.

End of Chapter.

A/N: Thanks for reading.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" and "Negima" are the creative property of Ken Akamatsu and his associates. Any new characters not included in the original mangas or the Love Hina anime (written by Shō Aikawa) are my own creative property.

Chapter Four (Revised):

Three of the turtles had been destroyed, but Adam and Setsuna didn't have the time to appreciate their victory, for out of the dust and smoke three more, now very angry turtle demons came storming down upon them.

Without having much time to think about it, Adam rolled between the nearest demon's legs and hacked the edge of his katana through the back of one of the creature's knees as he went by. The grumbling turtle squealed and then collapsed as its support was cut away. It fell backwards and its massive weight almost made a paste out of Adam before he could roll out of its way.

Setsuna had dashed for a nearby tree and had continued running for ten feet up its side. She then leaped sideways so that she arced over the top of the second demon. This put her in easy reach of some of the turtle's choicest targets of opportunity. As she was nearing the head she stabbed at its right ear hole, however the sword point missed the indent and impacted on the surface. It skidded along the tough temporal armor and then sliced across its right eye. "Oops… missed," Setsuna muttered in annoyance as she sailed on by.

She landed against a tree trunk on the opposite side of the demon and promptly dashed down its side. Now back on the ground, she took off sprinting and muttering towards the back of the now half-blinded turtle. "Get the knees! Get the knees! Must get the knees!" She sped by Adam and her sword flashed again. This time her aim was perfect. Seeing the blood spurt, she smiled and dashed towards the third demon.

Having crippled the first demon, Adam was going for the second turtle when Setsuna dashed by. He had to quickly jump aside in order to avoid another falling turtle demon. "The stupid weatherman never gets it right!" he said darkly to himself as he drove his katana downwards through the turtle's good eye and into its brain. The demon disintegrated into a swirl of black sand-like particles, leaving his sword stuck in the ground.

He looked back up just in time to see Setsuna get swatted away by the third demon. She came flying straight back at him. He had only a split second to realize what was happening when they struck. Adam was launched backwards while holding onto his cousin-in-law. A moment later his back struck a large tree and he was squashed between the tree and a now very annoyed Setsuna. "Ouch, that's going to leave a mark," he grunted in pain.

In the mean time, Mana had been sitting patiently up a tree while waiting for another good shot at one of the demons. So far, her partners seemed to be doing well. She watched through her scope as two of the demons went down crippled. Her chance finally came as the third demon slapped Setsuna away. It paused just long enough for her to get off a clear shot. Her steel jacketed slug blew through its right ear canal; knocking it over. As it struck the ground, it came apart in a dark swirl. Mana shimmied down the tree and then trotted towards her teammates.

Adam had heard the gunshot and had watched as the third demon went down. He then noticed that the turtle demon that he had first injured had rolled into its front and was trying to crawl away, dragging its crippled leg. Its massive weight made this difficult. Stepping away from the tree, Adam carefully put Setsuna down onto her feet. He then reached behind his shoulders and brought out the concealed backup weapon that he carried strapped to his back: a North American steel tomahawk with an ironwood handle.

He stepped away from Setsuna and then vanished. Almost immediately he re-appeared standing on the back of the crippled turtle demon. _Hey, my shundo actually worked right this time_, Adam thought to himself. _I really do need to practice it more_. He took a forward step on the turtle's shell and his tomahawk began to glow with energy. The turtle stopped trying to crawl away and began thrashing about in an attempt to shake its ex-prey loose.

Adam took two more quick steps forward and then he raised his ki charged tomahawk. "Zangan-Ken," he called out as he brought the weapon down on the back of the demon's head. The ki-reinforced weapon chopped right through the armor, killing it instantly. With a thud, Adam suddenly found himself sitting on the ground in a swirl of black demon essence, and then it was gone. He closed his eyes and sent his senses out in search of any other dangers that might be in the area, but there were none.

"Looks like we got them all," Adam said as he opened his eyes again. He got to his feet and brushed himself off. He was just finishing up when Mana entered the small clearing. She picked up Setsuna's sword and carried it to her. Adam collected his own katana and put it and the tomahawk away.

"Are you okay, Setsuna? That was quite a hit you took," Mana asked.

"I'm fine, thanks," she replied.

"It's time to head back," Mana said. "We need to switch off with our relief team."

Setsuna and Adam nodded and the three reformed their skirmish line and quietly headed back towards the dormitories. Setsuna called ahead on her cell phone and reported the demons and their destruction. She also confirmed that their relief would be waiting for them.

The sun had gone down by the time they reached the dormitories. They were met by a red-haired young man wearing a green suit and a tie, whom appeared to be about ten years in age.

"You must be Urashima-san," the young man said.

Adam nodded back at him and said, "Yes, but you can call me Adam. No honorifics, please."

"Sure thing," he replied. "I am Negi Springfield, a teacher at this school." He then looked past Adam and said, "Setsuna-chan, Mana-chan, are you two okay?"

"We're fine," Mana replied. Setsuna nodded her agreement.

Two girls wearing jeans and downy coats arrived behind him. One girl had red hair tied up into two pony-tails and fastened with bells. She had one blue and one green eye. The other girl was taller, with short brown hair except for two long bangs on each side in the front and a long tail tied in the back. Adam couldn't see her eyes as she apparently wore them closed, just like Mitsune Konno, back at Hinata House.

"This is Asuna Kagurazaka," Negi said while pointing at the redhead. "And the other is Kaede Nagase. Girls, this is Adam Urashima." He looked back at Adam. "I understand that you had some problems on your patrol."

"Yes," Adam said. "We had to deal with six turtle demons."

"That's what the dean said," Negi replied. "Two more turtle demons appeared just inside the tree line here, right about the time you reported engaging the others. Master… I mean Evangeline and Chachamaru took care of them before they got very far. Oh, yeah umm… you didn't happen leave a blue pickup truck parked near the dormitory did you?"

"Yes, I did," Adam said cautiously.

"Well," Negi said slowly. "Unfortunately, when Chachamaru was fighting one of the demons it fell onto your truck and… ah… kind'a squashed it a little. Dean Konoe said that they'll reimburse you for it."

Adam looked up at the sky for a moment, then mumbled, "Stupid weatherman! Freak'in turtle demons!"

"Oh, also Dean Konoe wanted me to tell you that since you're related to Setsuna-chan, if it's alright with her, you are to camp out in her room for the next few days." Negi glanced over at Setsuna. "Is that okay with you?"

"That's fine," Setsuna answered.

"Okay," Negi said. "We can talk some more tomorrow. We have to start our patrol now. We'll see you here again in about four hours. Bye," he said as they headed off.

"We should get you moved into my room while we have the time," Setsuna said. "Mana, you might want to stay over also while we're on this patrol schedule. It might be easier."

"Sounds good," Mana said. "Let's go."

Two Years Earlier:

One week to the day after Adam had received a phone call from Hina, he stepped off the train that had just brought him back to Kyoto. He hadn't taken even a dozen steps away from the platform when he heard a voice say, "You are Adam Urashima, are you not?"

Adam looked around and saw a woman wearing the red and white uniform of the Gods' Cry School standing near by. "Yes, I am," he said. "I'd understood that we were to meet at the appointed restaurant."

"That is true," she replied. "But I decided to meet you personally. I am Tsuruko Aoyama, the current head of the Gods' Cry School. We've met before, I believe."

"Yes, we have… as children," he said. "It is a pleasure to meet you again. How is your younger sister doing?"

"Motoko is doing fine, at the moment," Tsuruko said. "The restaurant is only a short distance away. Megumi-san is waiting for us there. Shall we go?"

"Sure. If you would lead the way."

They reached the restaurant after only a five minute walk. Megumi Aoyama was waiting at a table and was sipping on some tea as they entered. She waved and they made their way over to her. Tsuruko sat next to Megumi and Adam sat across from them. After everyone had been served some tea and some snacks had been ordered they got down to business.

Tsuruko set her teacup down and looked at Adam. "First as a representative of the Aoyama Family, I want to apologize to you for the actions of Kazuyo Taikono-san. We still have no idea as to why she attacked you and she has died since then."

"I understand that and I don't hold the Aoyama Family responsible for what has happened. All I really wanted was to learn something about some of my ancestors. The response was… unexpected. But that's water under the bridge, to use an English phrase."

"Using the documents that you left," Tsuruko said, "We have determined that you are definitely a descendant of our family, which is happy news for us. I'm not sure how you feel about it after all that has recently happened."

"I'm fine with it," Adam replied. "Again, I don't hold the Aoyama Family responsible for what happened earlier."

"Would you mind telling us what kind of martial arts training you have," Megumi asked.

"My family owns a dojo in California, where I got my initial training," Adam replied. "It taught me styles of fighting that were passed down from both the Urashima and the Aoyama sides of the family. The Urashima style that I grew up with was very close to the current forms that are still being taught by the modern Urashima family. When I fought Taikono-san at your school, I was already familiar the techniques that she chose to use against me. I assume, based on that observation, that what I was taught was about the same as the current forms used by your school. My family's dojo has also incorporated some hand-to-hand techniques from other disciplines that have proven useful."

"What about the techniques that you used to fight the demons?" Megumi questioned.

"I have a doctorate degree in metaphysics... an MsD," he said. "Part of my training involved various methods of performing exorcisms and of removing negative energies. What I specifically used against the lesser wolf demons was a very old European warding sign that has a similar counterpart used by the Tibetan Buddhists. The ward stops the demon from approaching while I destroy its physical form using a projectile of high-vibration hard ki energy."

The two women looked at each other for a moment, and then Tsuruko said, "Adam-san, the Family Council has requested that we invite you to visit with them and to see the school. Would you be interested?"

Adam thought about it for a moment and then said, "I would be delighted to visit. Thank you for the invitation."

OOO

It had been an interesting three months since Adam had met the Aoyama Family Council, and his grandmother Nonoko had been right about the potentials. He had been whole heartedly accepted into the clan. He was also now a member of the Shinmei-ryu.

He had been doing special instruction at the school for the previous two months; teaching to individual students and to small groups. It had been discovered that many of the techniques that he was familiar with were considered to be very advanced as far as the school was concerned. They had very few available teachers that were able to instruct in these methods, so Adam's expertise was being put to good use in one to one instruction for the more advanced students. He also taught the few "lost techniques" that he knew to some of the other instructors and masters.

Today's student was a fourteen year old girl who had become very skilled with the sword and in the raising and handling of ki energy. Her name was Setsuna Sakurazaki. She was part crow demon, which sometimes seemed to make her feel as if there was something wrong with her; as if her genetics somehow made her less that her fully human classmates. She was often alone.

Adam had gone out of his way to befriend her. He was happy now to be instructing her.

"Okay Set-chan," he said. "When you use the 'True Thunder-Light Sword' technique you always start by holding your sword downwards and almost touching the ground. This links your body's energy system into that of the earth. You will be drawing huge amounts of energy to project onto your target and the earth is the best source to draw it directly from."

"But Adam-sensei," Setsuna said. "I thought that this technique used ki energy, which is formed inside the body."

"Different groups of people or belief systems give different names to energy," Adam responded. "Energy is energy. Ki (chi, qi), life force, prana, shakti, kundalini… they are all just energy that goes by different names based on where they are found in the body or who is naming them. Don't get hung up on a name. Alright," he said putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, Sensei," she said.

"Okay then," he continued. "When you hold your sword tilted downwards almost touching the ground, use both of your hands so that both polarities in your body are linked into the circuit that you are creating…"

Current Time:

Even though it was winter break from school, Shinobu still had the breakfast ready to go at 8 A.M. After awakening the other residents, except for Motoko whom was almost always awake and training early, Shinobu started setting the food out on the table. Unexpectedly, Haruka arrived at about the same time as Motoko. Su was the next, bounding down the stairs and leaping into her chair. Keitaro, Mutsumi, and a yawning Naru were followed by Sarah and a hung-over Kitsune.

When Keitaro arrived at the table, he gave Haruka a suspicious look. She rarely ate breakfast at the dorms and when she did it was usually so that she could make an announcement when everyone was all together in one place. Haruka smirked at him when she noticed his attention.

As soon as Shinobu took her seat at the table, the residents dug into their food. After taking a few bites of his food, Keitaro smiled at the young cook and said, "Your food is excellent as usual, Shinobu."

"Thank you, Sempai," she said with a blush. The other diners nodded in agreement.

After a few more bites, Haruka cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "I have an announcement to make," she said.

"Not another male moving in, I hope," Naru grumbled under her breath.

"Nope," Haruka replied. "Not this time. Grandma Hina called me last night. She's going to be in the area for the next day or so, but she doesn't think that she'll be able to make it here. Anyway, she wanted me to inform you that there will be a construction crew working around the dormitory for several days, beginning tomorrow morning. They will be doing some upgrades to the grounds and perhaps to parts of the building. Grandma wasn't too clear on that point. The hot springs will be off limits for bathing between the hours of 8 A.M and 5 P.M. until they are finished."

"This is the first that I've heard of it," Keitaro said. "What will they be doing and where is the money coming from? We're just barely making ends meet each month as it is."

"Grandma has had plans for some upgrades to the inn for some time now. She has set aside some money for the improvements and I think that Adam and some other family members are also contributing to some of the costs. Anyway, Grandma wanted to celebrate the new year by beginning the project now. This first stage should only take a couple of days to accomplish. The next steps will begin this spring."

"But why will the hot-springs be closed," Naru asked.

"The construction company will be removing the privacy fence and building a new one," Haruka replied. "The enclosed area will be enlarged and some raised garden planters will be added around the edges, as well as a few new decorations and lighting. Also a second springs-pool, about half the size of the original pool, will be built next to it and separated by a fence and a tight gate. This will be a men's bathing area. The gate is a maintenance pass-through to aid in cleaning the area. Grandma wanted this completed before New Years."

"So there will be a men's hot-spring?" Keitaro said with tears of joy leaking from his eyes.

"Uh-huh," Haruka said. "There is already a separate men's changing area that was locked up when this became a women's dormitory and mixed bathing was no longer appropriate. The crew will need to relocate the original door opening so that it opens into the new pool area."

Haruka continued, "As a New Year's gift, the furniture in the common area is going to be replaced with two large couches and several overstuffed chairs. The old television will be replaced with a widescreen television and video and DVD players will be added."

"Woohoo!" Kitsune yelled. "Go, Grandma!"

"A civil engineer will be doing a walk-through of the buildings to see what might need to be repaired or upgraded in the future. And finally, two of bridges out back of the inn will be repaired."

"Why are they working on the old bridges," Keitaro asked.

"Adam wanted to make sure that they are in a safe condition. The last time he visited here, many of the planks had warped."

"But we don't use the bridges anymore," Keitaro said.

"Maybe not, but Adam might," she said.

"I still don't…" Keitaro started to say.

Haruka interrupted him, "I take it that you never fully read the documents that Grandma sent to you? Or discussed it with your dad?"

"Well," he hedged, "I never really got around to it."

"Okay," Haruka said. "Here's the quick version. Grandma Hina has three surviving children, so she split her estate three ways. Your dad, who is the oldest child, was supposed to inherit Hinata House but he has his own business and responsibilities, so he didn't want it. As his son, you were the next in line to receive it. With a few exceptions, you own 'in trust' the main hotel buildings, the land that they sit upon, and the grounds immediately around them up to the river, although Grandma retained the right to make important decisions regarding the property. As for my inheritance, I received the teahouse, the beach teahouse, the grounds that they sit upon, and certain investments. Your Uncle Adam inherited the lands outside of the hotel/dormitory grounds, including the four existing bridges and the land beyond them: the woods, meadows, mountainside, and any structures located there, such as the old temple and the family cemetery. In addition, as a family caretaker, he was also given custody of the subbasement under Hinata House and all the tunnels, caves, and underground rooms that might exist on the hotel grounds, and their contents."

Keitaro thought over what Haruka had just told him with a surprised look on his face. After a moment, he said, "I didn't know that we have a subbasement under us. Or that there's an old temple and cemetery on the grounds?"

Haruka finished drinking her orange juice and replied, "This property has been in the Urashima family for hundreds of years and both the land and the buildings hold many secrets. As individuals, we do not actually own the lands; they are temporarily given into our custody to care for, to nurture, and to improve for the next generations. We hold them in trust for the Family, as did our ancestors before us. If we are good stewards then we can live comfortable and fulfilling lives. If we are poor caretakers then we will lose our charge, the family council will strip it away and give it into the custody of another family member."

Keitaro went pale for a moment.

"That is why you should have fully read those papers. They explained many of the things that I just told you about. For instance, you cannot sell the property or use it as collateral against a loan, without first obtaining written permission from the council. This permission is rarely given. That is why Grandma saved the money for the repairs or approached other willing family members to contribute. Adam is having the bridges repaired because they are in his trust and he has the funds."

"But why does he have custody of things like the subbasement when the inn is my responsibility?"

"Your uncle has earned the trust of the family council by his actions over the years," Haruka said. "He was officially made a 'caretaker' last year. That means that the Family trusts him to take care of and to preserve sensitive property and antiquities. Since he 'owns' the property literally next door, it was considered as proper for him take charge of the sensitive property stored here."

Haruka looked back down at her remaining food and said, "That's all I had to say. The construction workers will be here starting at 8 A.M. tomorrow.

OOO

After breakfast, Keitaro decided to concentrate on his cleaning. He only had a few days left before New Years day and he also was going to need time to study, as an important center test was only four weeks away. It is a tradition in Japan to try to finish up all of the old business of the old year before the New Year begins. Thus what is "spring cleaning" in other parts of the world occurs at the end of December in Japan.

Keitaro spent the morning dusting in out of the way corners, looking for signs of wood rot, checking the visible plumbing for leaks, and looking for places that needed a touch-up with a little paint. He figured that he'd do the floors and windows on the next day. There was no good reason to clean the hot-spring yet, because the construction was likely to mess it up again.

He had just sat down on the sofa in the common area after cleaning himself up, when Kitsune came wandering into the room. Keitaro took one look at her and realized that she was on the prowl. He flinched as she looked his way. He knew what was coming next.

Kitsune slinked over to the couch and sat down right next to Keitaro, carefully crossing one of her bare legs over the top of his. She then bent forward so that he had a good view of her cleavage, and proceeded to draw circles on his chest with an index finger. "Keitaro, Honey," she purred. "I was wondering if you could do me an itsy-bitsy favor."

Keitaro was having trouble in keeping his nose from erupting in a spray of blood. "What do you need, Kitsune."

Still drawing circles on his chest, Kitsune said, "I was wondering if you could loan me some money. I'm a little tight right now and I need to replenish my sake collection. I've got a hot tip on a horse for later this week and I'll make more than enough to pay you back."

Before Keitaro could respond Naru walked into the room. Her eyes focused immediately on the couch and its two very close inhabitants. Keitaro could actually see the pilot lights in her eyes flame up in rage. _Aw, crap_! he thought. _This is going to hurt_.

She appeared in front of Keitaro almost instantaneously. "You're trying to take advantage of Kitsune! You pervert!" she yelled while swinging her fist.

Keitaro just sighed and closed his eyes. When the hit came, he almost immediately felt a second blow as he plowed through the front wall. Somehow he managed to miss striking any of the huge, winter-bare cherry trees and arced on a ballistic course into downtown Hinata Hot Springs; crashing directly on top of a trash can. Some nearby pedestrians who were long-time residents of the town began clapping. "Good shot," one of them cheered. "Two points!"

Climbing out of the partially flattened container, Keitaro waved at his supporters and then looked around to get his bearings. Seeing a nearby store, he shrugged his shoulders and headed for the door. "I might as well get Kitsune her sake as long as I'm out and about."

OOO

Su and Sarah were not happy. Since Adam was away, the dynamic duo had decided to explore his room and discover what kind fun things he might have hidden there. They had snuck into the secret passage system built within walls of the old hotel, but were disappointed when the hidden door that accessed Adam's room refused to open.

Sarah finally got annoyed enough to kick the panel several times in disgust. "This blows," she grumbled. "We can't get in this way, and Kendo Girl is in the next room and will hear us if we try to break in through his door. I sure don't want that stick waving mama chasing my ass around the inn. His windows are probably closed too."

Su had been thinking over the situation then suddenly got a huge smile on her face. "I have just what we need back in my room," she said. "Let's go."

Ten minutes later, Su and Sarah were hiding in the hallway near Adam's room. Su pushed a button on a remote control and a small, turtle-like mecha glided out of an open backpack that she had set on the floor. While Su fiddled with its controls, the mecha rolled down the hall and then stopped in front of Motoko's door. A panel on its back popped open and a small loudspeaker deployed and locked into place. Su pushed another button and a digital soundtrack began to blare from the speaker. Kitsune's angry voice: "Hey, there's a pervert in the hot-springs!" Shinobu's panicked voice: "Help! Pervert!"

Within seconds, Motoko's door slammed back and she dashed down the hallway waving her sword. Su's mecha was punted away as Motoko ran by and smashed into the wall, bending the loudspeaker's mount so that it couldn't retract. The mecha came to a rest right side up on the floor but it was now wallowing to the left.

"Yes!" Sarah pumped her fist. "Phase One is a success."

Su played with the controls again and the mecha limped over to Adam's door. Another panel slid open and a small tube emerged. It fired a beam of sapphire blue, cohesive light that struck the door lock and melted it while lightly charring the wood around it. Unfortunately for Su, something overheated in the works. There was a loud pop and the mecha went dead. "Oopsie," Su muttered.

"Yes! Phase Two complete. We're in," Sarah cheered.

They ran to the door and gave it a good yank, jarring the damaged locking mechanism loose. The door slammed open and the girls charged inside. Sarah immediately ran to the dresser and began to yank open the drawers; tossing things aside as she went. Su went straight to the closet and began shoving clothing aside and opening and dumping boxes onto the floor.

"Success," Sarah called out and then pulled a cigar box full of photographs out of one of the drawers. She quickly pawed through some of the pictures, until one caught her eyes. "Hey, it's Daddy," she said.

Su had also discovered something of interest. Among the contents of a trunk, she found a long and narrow blue-velvet sleeve that contained a metal tube. When she untied the string that held the sleeve closed and dumped it out, a beautiful flute fell into her lap. It was made out of a golden-colored metal and had enameled designs and symbols covering much of its surface. Su's eyes opened wide as she recognized the nature of the musical instrument in her lap. _How did he ?_… she thought.

OOO

Motoko stormed down to the hot-springs expecting to find that a strange male had desecrated the holy waters of Hinata House. Dashing into the pool area, she raised her katana in anticipation of expressing her righteous anger when she suddenly froze in place. There was nobody there. No evil male, no Kitsune, and no Shinobu.

_Huh_, she thought. _Maybe they're chasing the criminal down just like the time we chased Keitaro_.

She dashed back into the dormitory. As she was passing through the common area, Motoko noticed that Kitsune was sitting on the couch and watching television. "Kitsune," she said. "Where is the pervert?"

Kitsune stretched and looked at her in surprise. "What pervert are you talking about? Is he cute?"

Motoko, now very confused, said, "You were just yelling that there was a pervert in the hot-springs. And Shinobu called for help."

"Motoko, Dear, you must be imagining things. I've been here watching my show and I haven't said anything since Naru knocked Keitaro out of the building." She pointed at a hole in the outer wall. "And he was just about to give me some money too. Now I'll have to start all over again."

"Do you know where Shinobu is?"

Kitsune looked back at the television. "She should be in the kitchen getting an early start on dinner."

Entering the kitchen, Motoko spotted Shinobu standing near the sink and chopping through a stack of raw vegetables. She approached the blue-haired girl and cleared her throat so that she wouldn't startle her. "Hey, Shinobu," she asked. "Did you call for help a little while ago?"

Shinobu looked back at her and smiled. "No, Motoko-sempai. I've been in here fixing dinner."

"Okay, thanks," Motoko replied. _How odd_, she thought as she left the kitchen and headed back for her room. _Maybe I did imagine it_.

OOO

Sarah grabbed her treasure box of photos and went over to where Su was sitting near the closet. "What've you got there?" she asked.

Su was turning the flute over and over in her hands. "It's a special flute from my country. These are rare and hard to obtain. I'm wandering how Adam got it."

"Well, let's see what else is in the trunk." Sarah set the cigar box aside and began rummaging inside the open trunk. A moment later, she pulled out a small wooden box and opened it. Inside was a wide-bladed dagger with a carved bone grip. Tiny glyphs were etched into the blade. "Wow," she said. "This is awesome!"

OOO

Motoko was just nearing her room when she noticed that Adam's door was now wide open. Knowing that he was not in the building, she quietly approached the doorway. On the floor near the door was a turtle-shaped object that was venting a narrow plume of smoke. From out of its back sprung a small loudspeaker. Motoko narrowed her eyes as she recognized what the device implied. Someone had played her for a fool, and that someone would rue the day.

When she stepped into the doorway, she saw that the room was being trashed by the usual blond suspects. Su was looking at a bright object in her lap and Sarah was bending over a trunk and rifling its contents. She came up with a decorative rosewood box and popped the latch. Then she said, "Wow, this is awesome."

Motoko glanced around the room taking in the destruction and then she glared at the two miscreants and loudly cleared her throat.

Sarah jumped and dropped the box. Spinning around, she saw Motoko standing in the door. "Oh, crap," she moaned. "We're busted!"

Su looked up and said, "Hi'yas', Motoko. Have you come to join us on our treasure hunt?"

"No, Su," Motoko replied. "I'm here to show the two of you a time-honored ritual that is used by my clan. It's called a spanking."

OOO

Keitaro arrived back at the dormitory just shortly before dinner. "I'm back," he called out as he entered the common area. Kitsune wandered over and immediately ran her finger across his chest. "Where have you been, Sugar," she said. "Why don't you drop by my room and we can take up where we left off. Hmm?"

"That's alright, Kitsune," Keitaro said as he handed her a plastic bag that clinked when it moved. "I brought you a supply back. Enjoy."

Kitsune peeked into the bag and then smiled back at Keitaro. "Thanks, Hun," she replied. "My offer is still good if you should change your mind." With that said, Kitsune headed off to her room to safely stash away her windfall.

Keitaro examined the new hole in the wall, then he sighed and headed off to get some tools and lumber to make a temporarily patch. He'd do a permanent repair job tomorrow.

OOO

Mutsumi was dreaming, and in her dream-state she recalled having this vision many times before; and she felt warm and joyful. She was a young girl again and was playing in the sandbox with her two best friends: Kei Kei and Naru-chan. Kei Kei was trying to build a castle in the sand while Naru-chan, being three years old and cute as a button, was playing with the Liddo-kun doll that Mutsumi had loaned to her.

Mutsumi moved over next to Kei Kei to help him with his project. After a moment she looked at him and said, "There was a man on the TV last night. He said that if two people who like each other go to Tokyo U together, they will get married and live happily ever after – just like magic." She looked at the boy and smiled shyly. "Kei Kei, will you go to Tokyo U with me?"

Kei Kei looked up from his sand pile and smiled back at her. "Yes, Mu-chan. I want to live happily ever after with you. Let's go to Tokyo U together!"

Mutsumi bent over and kissed him on the cheek. "Do you promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

"Pinky swear?" Mutsumi asked while holding up a curled little finger.

Kei Kei held up his right little finger and intertwined it with Mutsumi's. The two then shook their hand up and down twice.

"Pinky swear!" Kei Kei promised back to her.

Mutsumi gave him another kiss on the cheek and then bounced back happily.

"I wan' go' too," Naru chirped while waving her arm.

"You can come also, Naru-chan," Mutsumi said happily.

"Yeah!" Naru said while waving her arm again. "Tokyo U…"

Mutsumi smiled warmly at her two friends…

She woke up bent over her heated table (kotatsu) and draped across her study materials. The memory of her most recent dream slipped quietly away as she sat up and stretched her arms above her head. She couldn't remember why, but Mutsumi found herself feeling very happy. She yawned and then glanced at her alarm clock.

"Dinner should be ready soon," she commented to herself.

OOO

Dinner was a quiet affair. As usual, Motoko kept to herself. Keitaro was tired from his busy day. Su and Sarah were unusually subdued and kept shifting in their seats. Naru was preoccupied and Mutsumi was tired from helping Haruka with her teahouse and then having an interrupted study session. Only Shinobu and Kitsune talked quietly with each other.

Half way through the meal, Motoko looked at Keitaro and said, "Your uncle's door will need to be fixed."

Keitaro gave her a puzzled look. "How did the door get broken," he asked.

"There were a couple of big mice that got loose in his room," she replied.

He gave her an even more puzzled look, and then he shrugged his shoulders and went back to eating. "I'll look into it," he said with a yawn.

"Oh, my," Mutsumi said when she saw Keitaro. "Are you going to be able to study with us this evening?"

"I really need to," he replied. "But I don't think that I'll be able to stay awake."

"Actually," Mutsumi said, "I'm pretty exhausted myself." She looked at Naru. "How about if we cancel the study session for tonight and study extra hard tomorrow."

The question brought Naru's focus back to what was going on around her. "Huh?" she said.

Mutsumi repeated herself. "We're really tired tonight. Would you mind if we cancelled our study session until tomorrow?"

"No, that's fine," she said still preoccupied. "I'm turning in. I'll see everyone in the morning." With that, she got up and left the table.

"Is Naru alright?" Keitaro asked.

"She's fine," Kitsune answered. "She's just got some things on her mind. Leave her alone for now." Kitsune carried hers and Naru's plates to the sink. On her way back through the dining room she said, "I'm turning in also. I've got a date with a lonely bottle and I don't want to keep him waiting. Night, all."

Motoko decided to go soak in the hot-springs since it would be off limits in the morning. After scrubbing herself down and rinsing off with buckets of cool water, Motoko slipped gratefully into the hot water of the pool.

After relaxing for about ten minutes, she heard the sound of the door to the changing room slide open. Motoko looked up and saw a head with blond hair and green eyes peeking around the edge of the door.

"Come on in, Su," she said.

Su was still wearing her clothing. Carefully she walked to where Motoko was bathing and then sat cross-legged on the edge of the pool. "Motoko, are you still mad at me?" she said sadly.

Motoko looked at her for a moment, and then said, "Su, I'm not angry with you anymore. I was upset with you earlier because we are friends but you did a bad thing to me. And why did you do it? So that you and Sarah could break into someone else's room, invade their privacy, and treat their property like it was trash and just throw it all over the floor. If I had done that, my parent's or my elder sister would have punished me the same way that I did you. And this isn't the first time that you've done it. You need to stop it. There are other ways to have fun that doesn't hurt others. Alright?"

"Okies, Motoko," Su said, much happier now. "But Sarah and me were on a treasure hunt and we found some cool stuff in Adam's room. He has a picture of Sarah's dad, and I found a special flute from my home!"

"He has a flute from India? That can't be too special," Motoko said.

"I'm not from India, silly. Where I'm from is a secret, and Adam has a flute from there."

"Well, maybe you can ask him about it when he gets back; if he's not too upset at you for wrecking his room."

Su nodded at Motoko and then let out a big yawn. "I'm sleeping with Sarah in my room tonight. Can I sleep with you tomorrow night? Please."

"Of course. Good night, Su."

"Night," Su said as she wandered back into the building.

Motoko soaked in the hot-spring for almost two hours, enjoying the peace and quiet. Nobody joined her and nobody else disturbed her solitude. She even enjoyed a long session of meditation, calming her mind as well as her body.

Finally getting out of the pool and changing back into her clothes, she carefully headed back to her room. Everyone else had already gone to bed for the night, and most of the lights had been turned off or dimmed.

When Motoko arrived on the third floor landing, she suddenly felt that something was not quite right. She looked around in the subdued light but everything looked normal. Then she remembered what had happened the other night and so she carefully released some of her ki energy as a probe.

Suddenly, Motoko became aware of a dimly glowing figure at the other end of the hallway. It was a spirit, but it felt differently than had the earlier one. Again, it didn't feel evil, but it did feel sad. Another female energy, this one was dressed as was Motoko, wearing a red hakama and a white gi. But the gi was different; it had red insets near the shoulders which was the mark of a priestess (miko). The spirit was walking away from her, and she could see long, ebony-colored hair that fell to its lower back.

For some reason, the spirit felt familiar to Motoko. She was about to call out to it, when it climbed up the far staircase and left through the door that led to the roof. Motoko hurried down the hallway in pursuit, but when she arrived on the roof there was nothing there.

End of Chapter.

A/N: Again, thanks for reading.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" and "Negima" are the creative property of Ken Akamatsu and his associates. Any new characters not included in the original mangas or the Love Hina anime (written by Shō Aikawa) are my own creative property.

Chapter Five (Revised):

Hinata House:

The antique clock on the dresser gave a soft click and the minute hand moved a notch and pegged the 12. It was 2:00 a.m., the Japanese witching hour.

On the polished plank floor near the closet was a carelessly discarded rosewood box lying on its side. The brass latch was unfastened and the content had been roughly dumped from its nest. A narrow shaft of moonlight caressed the silvery side of an old dagger, and a glow of milky white began to run up and down the short blade several times, causing the carefully etched runes nestled there to pulse with an electric blue. After a moment, the pulsing light dimmed and a figure appeared standing near the weapon. In the deep gloom, the being appeared to be that of a young, teenaged girl with red hair. She wore a white, light-weight kimono decorated with red roses that was tied in the back with a red sash (obi). She glanced around at the chaotic mess that had been left in the room and her eyes glowed red for an instant, and then she slowly faded into the shadows.

OOO

The next morning, Motoko was up early as was her normal routine. Before she started her usual morning exercises and katas, she decided to sit on her futon and meditate. She was troubled by the appearance of the spirits that she had seen on the two previous nights. Now granted, the ghosts didn't appear to be harmful; in fact, the first one was obviously friendly, but the fact that she was now suddenly bumping into strange energies at unexpected moments was starting to aggravate her. She hoped that Keitaro's uncle returned soon so that she could confront him about it, and to perhaps bring back some stability into her life.

After about five minutes, Motoko had managed to calm her mind and to bring her focus back to where she felt that it should be - on her swordsmanship. She was happy with the quality of her basic skills and on the levels to which she could charge her ki energy. However, she wasn't satisfied with her development in some of the more advanced Shinmei-ryu skills; she had mastered some of them, but because she had felt the need to leave the Gods' Cry School for a time, it was more difficult for her to grasp many of the techniques on her own. Every so often, she would get a scroll from the school containing a new skill within it. Well…all she could do was her best. She wasn't near being ready to go back.

She decided to spend some of her quiet time working on her ki energy, so she allowed her consciousness to center within the core of her body and then she began to "breathe in" the energy; pulling it up and into her body from deep within her inner self. After a few minutes, she felt supercharged and ready to go for a morning run.

As Motoko got to her feet and reached for her katana, she felt another spiritual signature nearby. _Not again_, she thought to herself. She sent out a mental probe and detected something odd in a dim corner of her room, near the wall in common with Adam's room. As she focused her attention on the shadows, she began to detect a vague shape residing there. For an instant, she saw the face of a girl a few years younger than herself with red hair; a face that gave off an aura of mischief, and then it was gone.

She almost stamped her foot in frustration. _This is getting ridiculous_, she thought. _But there's nothing I can do about it now._

OOO

Shinobu had slept in a little later than usual, since it was a school break. When she was at that special point between being asleep and being awake; as she was lying there totally relaxed, she suddenly heard the sound of a girl giggling. She felt a soft "thump" on her forehead and then there was more giggling. Opening her eyes, she saw a fuzzy, purple object blocking her view. When her eyes awoke enough to focus on the item better, she saw that it was Ikki, one of her plushies.

She had started to drift back to sleep when her eyes sprung back open again. _What is Ikki doing on my bed?_ she thought. Shinobu sat up in bed and looked around: every one of her plushies that would normally be resting on their shelves was piled on top of her bed.

Shinobu heard the giggling again, but it seemed to fade off into the distance. "Okay, Su," she said in an irritated voice. "No bananas for you this morning."

After getting dressed and completing her morning rituals, she wandered into the kitchen to begin preparing the breakfast. When she entered the room, she saw that the refrigerator door and a few of the cabinet doors were hanging wide open. Several containers were lying on the floor. Shinobu stomped her foot in frustration. Both of her personal spaces had been violated on the same morning.

"No bananas for the entire day!" she promised to herself.

She started lining up some empty containers on the counter: two cartons of orange juice, one gallon of milk, a jar of strawberry jam and one of peach, and three bottles of vinegar. _Why vinegar?_ she thought.

When she went to close the refrigerator door, she saw that the storage box holding the banana and chocolate chip muffins that she had made to go with breakfast had been opened and several were missing. _So, it was Su._ _Damn, now there's not enough for everyone. I'll have to make some more later. It looks like rice, eggs, and toast for breakfast…skip the toast; we're out of jam…but here's some bacon. All set then._

Shinobu had just started the rice cooker when she thought she heard a couple of yells from upstairs.

OOO

Motoko had just finished her 100th kata repetition when she heard a pair of screams coming from the building below. _That sounded like Su and Sarah,_ she thought to herself as she dashed down the stairs from the roof.

Reaching the third floor, she pulled open the door to 301 and hurried inside. Ducking around several trees growing in Su's personal jungle, she found the two girls sitting on a pair of futons. Both wore woebegone expressions on their faces and they appeared to be dripping. _What is that on their heads?_ Motoko thought.

"Oh, yuck!" Sarah said in disgust. She ran her tongue over her lips and said, "Orange juice?"

Su looked at Sarah with a sad look on her face. "Sarah," she said. "Why did you pour cold milk on me?"

"I didn't pour milk on you," Sarah said in a huff. "Why did you dump orange juice on me? Is that strawberry jam you're wearing on your head?"

"I didn't pour juice on you," Su grumped back. She put her hand on her head, which caused the reddish jam to dribble down the side of her head and across her face. "It is strawberry," she said. "What's that on your head?"

"What?" Sarah said. She put a hand on her own head and some orange-colored jam began to leak down the side of her head and face as well. "Peach jam," she said with loathing. "I hate peach jam."

"What happened here?" Motoko demanded.

"I was just sleeping," Su said angrily. "And Sarah poured milk on me. I heard her laughing about it!"

"I did not!" Sarah yelled. "I was just sleeping and you dumped cold orange juice on me. And I heard you laughing about it. How could you put PEACH JAM on me? That's just… just… terrible!"

"I didn't…," Su yelled.

"I didn't either…," Sarah yelled right back.

"Okay, you two," Motoko said. "Calm down. It's almost time for breakfast. Why don't you go down to hot-spring and get cleaned up. It will be closed before too long, so you need to hurry. I'll join you."

"Okies, Motoko," Su said. "Let's go."

OOO

After waking the other residents, Shinobu began placing bowls of steaming food onto the dining room table. The first to arrive was Motoko, along with the blond gruesome twosome. Shinobu gave them a dark look.

"Su," she said. "Why were you in my room this morning? And you raided the kitchen again!"

"I wasn't in your room this morning, Shinobu," Su said. "I was sleeping until Sarah poured milk on me!"

"I did not!" Sarah yelled. "I was sleeping until you poured juice on me! And peach jam," she shuddered.

"Again, calm down you two," Motoko said.

"Well, someone was in my room this morning and also in the kitchen," Shinobu said. "They emptied out the milk and orange juice and also the strawberry and peach jams. All the vinegar is missing too."

"We know were the jams and drinks wound up," Motoko said. "I wonder what happened to the vinegar?"

A moment later, Naru and Keitaro arrived together. Naru looked like she had barely slept the night before. They quietly took their seats.

Keitaro noticed the tension at the table and glanced around. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Nothing too important," Motoko said. "It appears that some jokes got out of control this morning. It's over now, I believe."

Keitaro shrugged. "If you say so, Motoko..."

Soon, Mutsumi came staggering into the dining room while holding onto a large watermelon; Kitsune was right behind her. Mutsumi wobbled over to the table and dropped the heavy fruit onto it. She then slumped into her seat and hiccupped loudly.

Naru spent a moment getting her tired eyes to focus on the buxom Okinawan. "Mutsumi," she said. "Are you drunk?"

"Oh, hey Naru," Mutsumi slurred. "I haven't been drinking. But I have been enjoying some wonderful watermelons that somebody left for me last night. I brought one to share for breakfast."

Sarah, who was sitting next to her, fanned her hand in front of her face as Mutsumi talked. "Turtle Lady," she said. "You smell like you've been drinking…a lot."

"No, no," Mutsumi insisted. "Just this wonderful watermelon."

"She's royally snockered," Kitsune snickered. "She had a private drinking party and she didn't invite me. That's just plain rude." She opened a bottle of her favorite beverage and then poured herself a cup. "Well," she said. "I guess that I'll have to drink my own stock...the first for today."

The Fox tipped her cup upwards and then she quickly downed several gulps. Suddenly, she turned pale and began to gag and spit. "Yeck," she gasped. "What is this nasty stuff?"

Keitaro began wiping his face where some of Kitsune's spew had landed. "Its vinegar," he said in a disgusted voice.

"Oh, that's where it went," Motoko muttered.

"What was that?" Keitaro asked.

Shinobu looked up from where she was slicing up the watermelon. "Somebody stole all the vinegar last night – three bottles worth. We just found out where some of it went."

Kitsune had finally stopped coughing. "My poor saki! This was expensive stuff too; totally primo. Why would anyone… Did you say _three_ bottles of vinegar?" Kitsune jumped to her feet and started dashing for the stairs. "My supply!"

There was the sound of running feet followed by a sliding door thumping open. After a moment, a heart-rending shriek broke the air, "Nooooo!"

Shinobu had finished slicing the melon and then looked at the tipsy brunette. "Mutsumi," she asked. "Why is your watermelon soaked in saki?"

Mahora Academy:

Adam stretched and then sat up on the couch, pushing the cotton blanket aside. Looking across the room, he saw that Setsuna and Mana were still asleep on the room's bunk bed; Setsuna was on her lower bunk, and Mana was on the usually empty upper bunk. The early morning sunlight was just starting to push its way through some cracks in the window curtains. With a yawn, he decided to get up and see about starting some breakfast for the team.

The smell of frying egg-toast and cinnamon brought Setsuna back to consciousness. She let her nose guide her to the kitchenette, where Adam already had a stack of the toast ready to eat, setting next to an open jar of grape preserves.

"Help yourself, Setsuna," he said. "It's all ready to go."

"Thanks, Adam," she said as she transferred part of the stack to an empty plate and then reached for the jam.

He had just dropped another stack of toast on the plate when Mana arrived. She smiled and grabbed a plate for herself.

After breakfast was done and Adam had washed the dishes, he dashed into the restroom for a quick shower and a change of clothes. When he re-emerged, he was wearing a light-blue dress shirt, beige slacks, a navy-blue v-neck sweater, and was tying on a blue and cream striped tie. "Sorry to eat and run, ladies," he said. "But I'm expected to meet up with Takahata-sensei and I have to hurry to get there on time."

He was out the door and gone in a flash. Mana just looked over at Setsuna and shrugged.

OOO

Adam entered the administration building and promptly found Takahata waiting for him. "Good morning, Takamichi," he said with a slight bow.

Takahata blew out a cloud of cigarette smoke and smiled back. "And a good morning to you, Adam," he replied. "You're right on time I see."

"The train ride over was rather interesting," Adam said. "How do they pack so many students into those cars?" he asked.

"Its one of life's little mysteries," Takahata said. "Well, let's get down to business. As Dean Konoe told you yesterday, you are going to be assisting with class 2A today. 2A is a group of our 'special' students and so can be challenging at times. You'll be assisting Negi-sensei with English this morning, and then you will be teaching history immediately afterwards. Negi will be assisting you so that there will be two guardians there. One of the student's, Satsuki Yotsuba – she's a chef, will be bringing some bentos to class so that you and Negi can eat lunch with the students. Oh, before I forget, here," he handed Adam a folder. "This is a class roster for 2A. There is also an outline dealing with today's scheduled history lesson."

Adam accepted the folder and then nodded at Takahata.

Takahata continued, "After lunch, you will be assisting Shizuna-sensei while she teaches the biology class. You and Negi will be escorting the students back to their dormitory after the class is over and then will provide security there afterwards. We have a different set of teams guarding the perimeter for tonight. Do you have any questions?"

"I can't think of any," Adam replied.

Takahata handed him a slip of paper. "This is my cell-phone number. Call me if any questions come up. Let's go up to the teachers lounge and pick up Negi."

Ten minutes later, Adam and Negi were standing just down the hallway from classroom 2A. Negi looked up and took a deep breath. "Before we get to the class," he said, "I wanted to warn you. The girls can get very rowdy and some of them will be rather aggressive with their curiosity. Just be forewarned."

"Thanks for the warning," Adam replied.

As they approached the classroom, a small girl with purple hair ducked back into the room. Adam heard a voice call out, "All stand!" When they entered the room, he saw that the students were all standing behind their desks. "Good morning Professor Negi," they called out and bowed as their diminutive teacher approached his desk. Then as a group the girls took their seats. Several eyed Adam curiously.

"Ladies," Negi called out from behind his desk, "This is Adam Urashima-sensei. He will be assisting today and he will also be teaching your history class for at least today."

There was absolute silence for a few moments as the girls digested this new information, then… "Aaieeeee!" squealed a dozen of the girls. Adam found himself suddenly surrounded by a mass of feminine bodies, each shouting questions at once.

"How old are you?'

"Where are you from?"

"What do you do for fun?"

"Are you really our new teacher?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Adam glanced over at Negi and saw the humor on his face. "Welcome to the club," Negi mouthed at him. Adam just shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the herd of junior high-schoolers that were surrounding him.

"Okay girls," he said loudly. "Go ahead and return to your seats. I'll answer your questions then."

After the girls were reseated, Adam took a deep breath and said, "In answer to your first battery of questions: I am twenty-one years old, I am originally from California (in the United States), I do several things for fun that I don't want to go into here, I am a substitute teacher for you for today, and I do not have a girlfriend. Are there any other questions before we begin your homeroom?"

A girl with dark hair and a partial ponytail on the right side of her head and brown eyes raised her hand. Adam thought about the class roster for a moment and came up with a name. "Yes, Yuna-chan," he said.

She looked surprised for a moment and then said, "Negi-sensei said that you are going to be teaching our history class for today. Is that right?"

"Yes, I am," he replied. "I will also be assisting Negi-sensei and Shizuna-sensei for today."

Another girl, much taller and also with dark hair, but with grey eyes, raised her hand. Adam thought that she looked a lot like Motoko back at Hinata House, except that she had a ponytail in back. "Yes, Akira-chan," he said.

Akira also looked surprised that he knew her name. "Do you know why our class schedules are messed up this week and why school is ending early?"

Adam thought quickly and decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to lie to the girls. He said, "The Dean has been informed that there might be some dangerous people in the area. As a precaution, he has brought in some extra security to make sure that the students in his charge are kept safe. However, this will require some tighter security for probably the next several days. For instance, as soon as class is over Negi-sensei and I will be escorting you home and you must remain inside the building until you are told that it is safe to leave, so no side trips. Hopefully this will be over with shortly. Negi-sensei and I will remain at the dormitory to provide security."

Another girl raised her hand. She was dark-haired and brown eyed and had two antennas sticking out of the top of her head, just like Naru and Mutsumi also back at Hinata House. She was wearing a large pair of glasses. "Yes, Haruna-chan," he said.

She grinned at him. "I have two questions. First, how come you already know our names and second, are you just security or are you really qualified to teach history to us."

Adam grinned right back at her. "First answer," he said while holding up his folder, "I have a class roster that shows your photos, and I'm a quick study. Second, I have a couple of doctorate degrees, one being in history. I think that sort of qualifies me – what do you think?" he asked.

Haruna just waved back at him.

"This needs to be the last question so we can start class. Anyone?"

A short girl with salmon-pink hair and brown eyes raised her hand and waved it back and forth. "Yes, Makie-chan," he said.

"Negi-sensei lives with Asuna and Konoka, but where are you staying tonight? If you need a volunteer, then you can use the couch in our room, right Ku?"

"Yes! He stay with us," answered a short girl with blond hair and brown eyes. She had twin ponytails that were held in place with small balls.

"I appreciate the offer, Makie-chan, Ku-chan, but I already have a place to stay with a distant relative of mine." He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw that Setsuna had a light blush on her face. "We need to start the class now. You're on, Negi-sensei," he said.

He found Negi to be an excellent instructor. He was patient and encouraging with the girls and he was always sure to compliment them when they did well. However, his choice of study materials was sometimes odd. For instance, he spent twenty minutes going over a William Shakespeare play. Why would you have a bunch of girls who are trying to learn conversational English study a play written in Middle English that is full of obsolete words and phrases that they will never use again? Life really is full of little mysteries.

Adam quietly moved around the room giving assistance to the girls as he detected a need. However, there was one girl with blond hair and blue eyes that seemed to need no assistance. Her name was Evangeline and she had very disturbing vibes. He remembered her name from his patrolling of the night before. As he walked along the back of the room, she often smirked at him, as if she found the situation amusing. Adam did his best to ignore her, except to return an occasional smirk of his own.

There was also a ghostly girl sitting in the front row near the windows. The other girls were ignoring her so Adam assumed that she was not visible to them. The class roster gave her name as Sayo Aizaka. Adam gave her a wink as he went by her. She looked surprised and then happy that he had noticed her.

Soon, after a short break, it was his turn to teach. According to the class outline, the girls were studying the general period leading up to the beginning of World War Two. Not knowing where the other teacher had left off, Adam decided to do a general review of the time period.

Adam stood at the podium and looked out over the class. "I am going to do a quick review of the period that you have been studying. As you should already know, during the Edo Period, the Tokugawa shogunate brought Japan to a period of isolation at the beginning of the 17th century. For about 150 years, Japan had been wracked by civil war between its equally balanced feudal warlords. Western missionaries and firearms were destabilizing the situation even more. The warlords were brought under control and foreigners and their ideas were ejected from Japan, except for the Dutch and Chinese trading station at Nagasaki. While the country was officially isolated during the Period, information and ideas were still coming in. I won't go into deeper detail because you should have already covered this material."

He continued, "What is important to our lecture today is that also during this time period of isolation, the Europeans, and to a lesser extent the Americans, had begun colonizing the Asian countries around the Pacific Rim and the Southern Pacific Ocean. Why is this important to Japan? Anyone?"

A girl with purple hair that covered her eyes nervously raised her hand. "Yes," he said.

"Is it because the leaders in Japan were worried that they would be next?"

"That is correct, Nodoka-chan," Adam replied. "The leadership believed that it wouldn't be long before Japan became 'colonized' by the Western countries. By the 1840's, they had seen what had happened to China and had decided that Japan should begin to negotiate with the West while it could still control some of the terms. American Commodore Matthew Perry, with his 'black ships,' is usually credited with forcing Japan to open her doors to foreigners in 1852. The reality, though, is that Japan had used this event as an excuse to do what she had already determined to do. The next twenty-five years was a period of extreme change. Can anyone tell me why?"

A girl with long, blond hair and green eyes sitting in the front row raised her hand. "Yes, Ayaka-chan," he said.

Ayaka smiled and said, "The government decided that to avoid becoming a colony that Japan needed to act like a colonizer itself."

"Very good," Adam replied. "The leadership decided that their country needed to act like the Westerners and to form their own imperium. They believed that if they acted like the Westerners that they would be treated like Westerners and not like the other Asian countries. They proceeded to build a Western-style army modeled on the German states and a navy modeled along British lines. They sent out scholars to learn about Western technology and hired experts that were brought to Japan to help establish modern industries. The trouble was that Japan was severely lacking in the natural resources that were needed to support her growing industrial base and prosperity. In order to continue growing, she needed to secure dependable sources for the needed materials. Based on the Western examples available, the way to have a great nation was through commerce and colonization, underwritten by its armed forces. This led Japan into a series of wars that eventually culminated with World War Two. Can anyone tell me who the first two targets for colonization were?"

This time Mana raised her hand. "The targets were Taiwan and Korea."

"That is correct, Mana-chan," Adam said as he smiled at her. "The Korean Peninsula had always figured prominently in Japan's plans for conquest since Toyotomi Hideyoshi had attempted to seize it as part of his effort to invade China in the late 16th century…"

OOO

Takamichi knocked on the heavy door and then quietly opened it. "You called for me, Dean?" he said as he entered the room.

"Ah, Takamichi!" Dean Konoe replied. "Yes I did. I just got through talking with the head of the Tokai Magic Association. She has agreed to cease any further hostilities until the two of us can meet and attempt to work out our differences. She was apparently pressured into acting against us by some of her more unruly members that had exaggerated certain perceived actions on our part. We will be meeting in a couple of weeks to work things out."

"Well, that's good," Takamichi replied.

The Dean nodded his head, his top knot bobbing up and down. "We'll go back to the normal school schedule starting tomorrow morning. Go ahead and keep the students secured for the night, but use the regular staff for it. You can also begin releasing the extra security personnel that were brought in."

"Are you sure we shouldn't hang on to them for a few more days?" Takamichi asked. "Just in case?"

"No, it'll be fine," the Dean said. "I gathered from my conversation that the Tokai Association, as a whole, hadn't been happy with starting hostilities against us. Apparently there have been a number of attacks on their members and facilities recently that have been blamed upon us. Since we aren't responsible, we should be able to work things out."

Takamichi shrugged his shoulders. "I'll go ahead and release the extra personnel."

"Good," the Dean replied. "Oh, there was something else of interest that came out of the conversation. She denied that the Tokai Association had sent any turtle demons to attack Mahora Academy. In fact, she denied that any of their members deal with turtle demons because they are too difficult to control. She also said that many of the recent attacks against the Tokai Association have been by turtle demons."

"It sounds like we may have third party that is trying to stir up problems between us," Takamichi commented.

"Yes it does," the Dean said while nodding his head. "I want you to look into it. Use our contacts and see if you can get some information on any turtle demon attacks that have occurred in… say the last year or so. Maybe there is a pattern that we can identify that will point to the perpetrators."

"I'll get right on it," he said.

OOO

The day just seemed to fly by for Adam. After teaching his history class, he and Negi had eaten lunch in the classroom with the students. Satsuki had provided some delicious bentos for the two instructors, which made some of the other students jealous. After the catcalls had died away, Adam had a very enjoyable lunch.

The lunch almost made up for having to assist with Shizuna's class. He found out later why Negi wasn't included. The biology class that Shizuna was slated to teach was a mandatory sexual education class. What a joy that wasn't! But eventually all good things must come to an end.

Next was the trip back to the dormitory. Shizuna had reinforced the warning to the girls that they needed to go home as a group and then to stay inside the building. Adam found that herding a mass of teenaged girls was almost as impossible as herding cats. But it was entertaining watching Negi dashing around after the larger girls like a border collie chasing sheep.

When they arrived back at the dormitory, Negi escorted the girls inside while Adam hung around the entryway for a few minutes trying to relax his nerves. After a few minutes, he noticed that Setsuna was waiting for him in the lobby. He entered through the door and smiled at her. "What's up," he said.

"You look like you could use a good sparring session," she said.

Adam thought about it for a moment and then said, "Good call. Race you to the grass!" he called out as he sprinted back through the door. Setsuna cursed and raced out of the building after him. She was pulling her nodachi out of its sleeve as she hit the turf. Adam had already arrived and had drawn his concealed katana. Setsuna immediately went for an overhead slice. Adam deflected it to the side and the battle was on.

For ten minutes the two swordsmen battled for possession of the green. By unspoken agreement, they avoided using any ki strikes, not wanting to damage any property by accident. The fight came to a sudden end as they noticed that Takahata was standing nearby smoking a cigarette. Adam wiped his forehead and looked around. The front door to the dormitory was jammed with students who had been watching the fight.

"Hey there, Takamichi. What's up?," Adam asked.

Takahata blew out a lungful of smoke. "I was just informed by Dean Konoe that the Kansai and Tokai Magic Associations have come to an agreement and have settled their differences for the time being. He is releasing all of the extra security that was brought in to help." Takahata walked over and handed Adam an envelope. "This contains your pay with a bonus and also a check for reimbursement for the destruction of your vehicle." He put his hand out and shook Adam's. "It was good to see you again. Unfortunately, I have to hurry off and contact some of the other security people that are being released. Take care. Maybe we can use you again later." Takahata waved as he hurried off towards the tree line.

"Wow," Adam said. "That was a rather sudden dismissal." He glanced at Setsuna. "It was also a short visit. It's still early. How about after I pack my things, I treat you to dinner? That way we can talk for a little longer before I have to catch the train back to Hinata Hot Springs."

Setsuna smiled up at him. "That sounds good to me."

OOO

Hinata House:

Haruka was wiping off a table in her teashop when she heard the bell over the front door tinkle. She glanced up and saw Grandma Hina standing there and smiling at her. She walked over and gave her granddaughter and adoptive daughter a warm hug. She then sat at a table and said, "Well, aren't you going to offer me some tea?"

Snickering, Haruka went back into the kitchen and filled a teapot with the family special blend tea. She then placed two cups on the table, poured the tea, and then had a seat herself. "I wasn't expecting you here," she said. "When I talked to you earlier you didn't think that you would be stopping by."

"That's true," Hina said. "However, I found that I had time for a very quick visit. I won't be able to get up to the Inn, though."

"I'm sure that the girls will miss seeing you."

"I know, but it can't be helped. I'll see if I can make the time to see my girls later." She took a sip of her tea and continued. "I'd like for you to do a couple of things for me, if you would."

"What do you have in mind?" Haruka asked.

"First: In the back of the garage there are three wooden crates. Two of them contain a large wooden carving that Adam sent to me last year from Hawaii. They are of the goddesses Hina and Pele. I want the Hina carving placed in the women's outdoor bath area and that of Pele in the men's bath as part of the new landscaping. The third crate contains a pair of generic tiki gods. There is one for each bath."

"That should be no problem," Haruka said. "I was wondering what was in those crates."

"Second," Hina said as she handed over a large envelope, "I want you to give this to Adam after he gets back from the Mahora Academy. There are some instructions in there from the family council. Hopefully, this will help Keitaro to improve his situation."

Haruka gave her mother a dark look. "What is the council plotting this time?"

Hina finished her tea and got to her feet. "It's a really complicated situation that I don't have time to go into now. You should find out soon enough. Don't worry. Things will work out." She gave Haruka another hug. "I've got to go now. I'll give you a call in a few days. See you later."

"Good-bye, Granny."

OOO

Keitaro had just finishing repairing the wall to the common area and Adam's door, when the civil engineer knocked at the front door. While he was escorting the engineer around the inn, the first of the construction and landscaping crews arrived (later than planned) and they promptly began removing the privacy fencing from around the hot spring. The ground was quickly staked-out and a small earth-mover began digging out the site of the new hot pool. After the engineer was finished writing down some notes, Keitaro took him out to examine the two bridges at the rear of the grounds. When he was done, he thanked Keitaro and went to discuss things with the foreman.

There wasn't anything else to do, so Keitaro decided to ask Naru and Mutsumi if they would like to have an early study session, since they had canceled out the night before. Naru was still looking tired but not as exhausted as she had been for the last few days. She readily agreed to the extra study time and Mutsumi was happy to join them.

They were ten minutes into the study session when Naru fell asleep; her head resting on an open book and her bottle-lensed eyeglasses askew on her face. A moment later, and she began to lightly snore.

"Wow," Mutsumi commented. "Naru must be really tired. She hardly ever falls asleep while we're studying."

"Yeah," Keitaro replied. "Let's study quietly and let her sleep for a while."

"Okay. What answer did you get for this math problem?"

About thirty minutes later, Naru snorted and woke herself up. She sat up and straightened the glasses that were resting on her nose. "Hey guys," she said. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You looked exhausted," Keitaro said. "So, we decided that you needed to rest more than you needed to study. Are you feeling okay? You've been looking drained for the last couple of days."

Naru looked away from Keitaro. "I'm fine," she said. "I've just been having some nightmares and some difficulty with sleeping. I'll be good in a day or so." She glanced back at Keitaro and looked like she was going to say something, then she seemed to changed her mind.

"Well," Mutsumi said. "How about we cut short our study session and you can try to take a nap. Then if you feel like it, we can try again after dinner."

Naru thought about it for a moment. "You're right. I probably should take a nap. Let's try it again later."

As they were getting up from the low table, Mutsumi bumped into it and a teacup was knocked over, spilling its contents. In an attempted to save the books and study notes, both Keitaro and Mutsumi grabbed for the tissues at the same time and smacked their foreheads together. Mutsumi went over backwards, her eyes spinning in their sockets. Unfortunately for Keitaro, he wasn't that lucky. Stunned, he fell over into Naru and, with his impeccable luck, his face found her cleavage.

Naru yelled "You pervert!" and pulled her fist back to administer her special "Iron Punch." Just before cutting loose, she sighed and let her arm fall back to her side. Keitaro slid off and landed heavily on the floor, his eyes spinning in opposite directions. She just didn't have the energy to pound him. Maybe she would later when she feeling better.

With another sigh, she grabbed some tissues and started cleaning up the mess. When she was done, she slowly dragged the unconscious study buddies out into the hallway and left them just outside of her door; she didn't have the energy to take them any further. After closing her door she snuggled into her futon and tried to relax enough to fall sleep. Within moments, she joined her partners in unconsciousness. And then the dreams started again.

OOO

Su and Sarah went dashing back to Su's room. They had been on the roof spying on the crews working around the hot spring. They were curious as to what the men were saying, but they had orders from Haruka to stay away and to not bother the workers. Su suddenly remembered that she had a set of electronic ears in her room, and the girls had gone running off to fetch them.

While Su was rummaging through a pile of electronic gadgets, Sarah noticed that a plate containing four muffins was sitting on the floor near their futons. She walked over, picked one up, and sniffed it. "Umm, banana and chocolate chip… My favorite," she said while taking a big bite out of it."

Hearing the word "banana," Su hurried over and spotted the plate. She promptly snatched one of the muffins and shoved it whole into her mouth. "Yummy," she said while blowing crumbs.

Sarah pounced on the third muffin as Su snatched at the remaining one. They finished off their treats in no time at all.

Su returned to her rummaging. "Ah, here it is!" she exclaimed. She stood up holding on to a parabolic microphone to which two headsets had been attached. The blond bazookas hurried back to the roof with their booty, which also included a pair of binoculars.

They hid on the roof for the next half hour, playing at being spies and having a grand time while doing it. That is until Sarah's gut began to squish and rumble.

"I need to take a break and use the restroom," Sarah said while looking a little pale around the edges. "I'll be back in a little bit." She made a quick dash for the stairs. However, when she got to the lavatory she found that the door was locked. She stood for a moment hopping back and forth from foot to foot in a sort of a modified pee-pee dance, and then she pounded on the door with her fist.

"The room's in use!" Kitsune's voice called through the door.

"I've got to go REAL BAD, Kitsune!" Sarah cried out. "It's an emergency!"

"I'll be out in a minute. Hang on."

Sarah was holding her butt cheeks together with both hands and was rocking from her heels to her toes, when Kitsune finally opened the restroom door. She had barely enough time to get through the door when Sarah went dashing by her. The door slammed closed and there was a hard thump from within, followed by some rather disgusting noises.

A moment later, Sarah's voice yelled out, "OH, GROSS!"

In the meantime, Su had been kicking back on the roof and playing with some birds while she waited for her friend to return. It was boring watching the construction by herself. She was talking to a bird that was sitting on her knee when her gut also went squishy and began to grumble at her. _My turn_, she thought to herself while getting to her feet.

Su was almost to the door from the roof when her lower self suddenly got much more insistent. She put on more speed and hurried down the stairs. When she got to the restroom, she found that the door was locked. Her gut gave another very big squish and Su began pounding on the door.

"The room's in use!" Sarah's voice called through the door.

_Déjà vu_, Su thought to herself. "I've got to go REAL BAD, Sarah," Su cried out. "It's an emergency!"

"I'll be out in a minute. Hang on."

_Definitely déjà vu_, Su thought to herself as she clenched her butt cheeks tightly together and began an odd little dance.

Sarah had just opened the restroom door and stepped out when Su went dashing past her. The door slammed closed, there was a hard thump from within, and some rather indelicate noises leaked into the hallway.

Sarah was starting to look a little green around the gills when Su's voice cut through the door, "OH, GROSS!"

Five minutes later, Sarah's gut started getting rumbly and grumbly. _No! Not again_, she thought desperately as she began bouncing back and forth on her feet, practicing her newly created poo-poo dance.

In the meantime, Kitsune was searching through one of her dresser drawers. "I wonder where that bottle of laxative got off to?" she muttered to herself.

Somewhere in Hinata House the voice of a young, teenaged girl with red hair was heard to giggle.

OOO

Motoko quietly prowled the dim hallways of Hinata House. She hadn't been able to relax enough to fall asleep. The atmosphere was too unsettled. She had tried spending some extra time working on her katas, pushing herself hard, but the exercise hadn't helped. She had tried soaking in the hot springs, but it hadn't helped her to relax. There was just too much energy loose on the premises. Things were happening in the shadows - lots of things. She was surprised that her housemates were so insensitive that they were able to sleep without any problems.

It had been a strange day. Except for Motoko herself, the residents had been plagued by a rash of practical jokes. Most of pranks had been relatively innocuous; they were annoying but not particularly unpleasant. However, this trend did not seem to apply to Su and Sarah. Bad things seem to happen to them all day. The two girls had gone to bed early, exhausted from their trying day.

For whatever reason, the agent behind the jokes had left Motoko alone. This had made some of the others cross at her, as if they believed that Motoko may have actually been the jokester.

_As if I would actually stoop to something so low! _Motoko thought to herself. _I thought they knew me better than that._

Having completed another round of the premises, Motoko slowly approached her own room again. She was nearly there when she decided to obey a strong impulse. She silently slid open the door to Adam's room and carefully stepped inside. She turned on the overhead light switch and glanced around. Her being in Adam's room without his permission was very uncomfortable for her because it violated her sense of honor. Still, she had felt guided to be here so she stepped further into the room.

The chamber was just as messy as it had been left the day before, when Su and Sarah had started trashing the place. Keitaro had fixed the damaged door earlier, but apparently he had decided to leave things as they were. Motoko walked over near the open closet and looked closely at the items that had been scattered across the floor. Suddenly, she reached down and picked up a curious, old dagger that was lying there. Next to it was an opened rosewood box with brass fixtures that contained a green velvet lining with an outline that fit the dagger. Motoko also retrieved the box, and then set it on the nearby dresser.

As she examined the old blade, Motoko felt an eerie presence that seemed to emanate from it. There were some strange glyphs etched into the dagger that seemed to be pulsing dimly in the bright room light.

"What are you doing here?" a voice suddenly demanded. Motoko jumped in surprise and she nearly lost her grip on the dagger. She spun around and faced the direction of the open door.

Standing near the entrance was the same young woman that Motoko had seen earlier in her own room. She appeared to be about 13 or 14 years of age. She had copper-red hair and intense blue eyes that shimmered and pulsated with a sometimes red; sometimes violet gleam. She was wearing a pure white kimono decorated with embroidered red rose blossoms, and which was fastened about her with a red obi that matched the color of her hair. She was very short, reaching only to about the height of Motoko's shoulder. She was staring at Motoko with a suspicious glare.

Motoko started to reach for her katana and then she relaxed. The girl was only standing there; she wasn't attacking. Motoko felt the girl's mischievous energy – and something else that niggled at the back of her mind. She tried to analyze the impression but her mind refused to cooperate.

"What are you doing in Master's room?" the girl repeated, drawing Motoko's attention back to the matter at hand.

"I was patrolling the residence and suddenly felt myself strongly drawn to this room," Motoko explained quietly. _Master's room?_ she thought to herself. "I always try to follow my instincts," she said. "I was just examining the damage that was left here. Now, who are you?"

The girl continued to stare at Motoko for a moment longer, appearing to gaze deeply into Motoko's being. Then she suddenly smiled and her whole face seemed to light up. "I saw you disciplining the two culprits that desecrated Master's room. You saved them much pain, for I would not have been so kind." Her face darkened for a moment, then the cloud passed and she was smiling again. "My name is Niiko," she said.

"I am Motoko Aoyama, a resident here and a student of the Shinmei-ryu."

"Yes," Niiko replied. Her eyes shimmered violet again. She glanced down at Motoko's hand. "Please place the dagger back into its casket," she said.

Motoko carefully placed the knife back into its rosewood box and securely fastened the lid closed.

"Thank you," Niiko said.

"So…" Motoko began. "Are you the agent responsible for the chaos that occurred around the inn today?"

Niiko's smile became even broader. "Yes. It's been some time since I was last free and about. A little fun and joy; some pay-back and retribution... perhaps some lessons learned. It's all good."

The last puzzle piece fell into place and Motoko suddenly realized what had been bothering her about Niiko's energy. She wasn't a ghost at all.

"You're a yōkai," Motoko declared.

"Of course!" Niiko replied. She gave Motoko a hard look. "You're a member of the Shinmei-ryu and you didn't recognize what I am?"

"Well," Motoko hedged in a rather embarrassed voice. "I've never actually met one of your kind before, so I didn't recognize the vibes that I was getting from you."

Niiko winked at her. "Perhaps even more lessons were learned today. It's all good," she replied.

Motoko smiled at her then asked, "I do not intend to be rude, but why are you here?"

"Master brought me here," Niiko replied. "I was sleeping when those rude vandals woke me up. But it gave me the opportunity to have much fun today!"

"I can understand why you were upset at Su and Sarah, but why did you play tricks on the other residents?"

"Its fun to play tricks and it was the first time I was out at this new place. Also, I don't like naughty foxes or pretend foxes. Foxes are annoying, so I annoy them back."

Motoko smiled at the last comment. "Are you going to be tricking people again today?" she asked.

"There is no need. Master is on his way back and will be here in a few more hours. He can deal with the miscreants himself. Niiko no longer needs to get involved, unless Master wishes for it."

"When you say Master," Motoko asked. "Are you referring to Adam Urashima?"

"Yes. Adam Urashima is Master," Niiko replied happily.

"Why do you call him Master? Did he enslave you or trap you in some way?"

Niiko looked upset at the question. "Never," she said adamantly. "Master would not treat me in such a way. Master saved me from the Nasty One and set me free. I stay with Master because it is what I want!"

"I'm sorry," Motoko said quietly. "I did not intend to offend you. It is just that yōkai are frequently enslaved in some manner and I do not yet know much about Adam Urashima."

Niiko gave Motoko a knowing look and then she smiled again. "Don't worry about it. You know Master much better than you think." She suddenly gave a big yawn. "I need to go to sleep now. Make sure you close the door when you leave." She gave Motoko a final sleepy look, and then she faded away to nothing.

Motoko took a last glance around the suddenly empty room, and then she stepped out into the hallway. As she was carefully sliding the door closed she suddenly realized something odd about herself. She had just carried on an extended conversation with a yōkai, and she was treating it as if it were an everyday event. What was she thinking?

It was suddenly her turn to let out a huge yawn. As she was heading for her own bed, she thought to herself, _Urashima, when you get back you definitely are going to have a lot of explaining to do!_

End of Chapter.

A/N: In the Japanese belief system, a yōkai is a sort of catch-all term used to describe any of a number of spiritual beings or those possessing supernatural powers, including various spirits, demons, monsters, and transformed humans. Ghosts are not generally classed as yōkai.

Thanks for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creative property of Ken Akamatsu and his associates. Any new characters not included in the original manga or the anime (written by Shō Aikawa) are my own creative property.

Chapter Six (Revised):

Naru rolled over in her futon and moaned again. She was having another of the terrible dreams that she had been having for the last week. In this latest dream, she was being chased by a dark-haired man wearing eye glasses. They were running through an overgrown section of woods, dodging in and out amongst the trees. Just as the man was about to catch her, she gathered her courage and turned around to face him. She felt her rage flame up and energy flowed through her abused body.

_How dare he!_ Naru demanded in her mind. Her anger flamed higher and her arm drew back and formed a fist. _How dare he!_ she demanded again. Her fist flashed forward and connected with the man's face. He went flying up through the tree branches and out of sight. _How dare he!_ she sobbed to herself in anger.

She heard a crashing in the bushes nearby and she began to run again. As she quickly wove her way around the tree boles, she glanced over her shoulder and saw that the same man was chasing her. Naru increased her speed and tried to outpace her pursuer, but he was too swift. Again, as the man was about to catch her, she found her courage and turned to face him. When she saw his face her rage flamed up and coursed through her tired body.

_How dare he!_ she demanded. _HOW DARE HE!_ Her energy flared into righteous flames and she spun around and let loose with a mighty kick. Her foot connected with the man's mid-section and he went flying backwards through the trees, to crash somewhere in the distance.

_How dare he!_ she whispered to herself.

Naru started running again, this time on all four of her legs. She panted as she ran, dodging and ducking through the low bushes, her thick, bushy tail flying out behind her. Soon she would arrive back at the den; to safety. She was almost there when a whistling sound caught her attention. As she looked around, a heavy blow struck her in the side, knocking her over into a tumble. When she stopped rolling, she saw that she had been pierced by a strange arrow. It was made of yew wood, was painted red, and it was fletched in black and decorated with black sigils. Naru immediately began to feel a cold numbness radiating out from it.

Her long ears swiveled around as she heard another noise. She weakly turned her head and saw that the dark-haired man with the eye glasses was standing nearby.

He looked at her and smirked. "So," he said snidely. "You thought that you could escape from me, did you? You agreed to serve me. I own you. I can do with you as I please. And I can dispose of you as I please. And now…" he sneered at her, "I choose to dispose of you."

She looked at him and saw the evilness in his face. _How could I have sworn to serve this man?_, she thought. _How could I have missed the darkness that possesses him? I was naïve, but he also took advantage of me! How dare he! HOW DARE HE!_

Her rage flamed again. It burned the brightest that it had ever burned before, consuming her life force in an inferno of righteous anger. Her single tail had become five tails, which swished around and around, fanning the flames of her desire for revenge – for retribution. In the last conscious act of her life, she gathered her burning energies and launched a massive foxfire at the hateful male. He screamed as he flared up like a torch.

She lay back as her last energy drained away. The man had paid in full for his crimes against her. Her life flickered and then it went out.

Naru rolled over in her futon and kicked back the sweaty bedding. Still disoriented from her disturbing dream, she stumbled over to her study desk and snagged up a bottle of water that she had left there. After gulping down the remainder of the fluid, she collapsed heavily onto a floor cushion and cupped her head in her hands.

_Why am I having these nightmares?_ she demanded of herself. She thought back over the few dark fragments that she could still remember from her latest dream-works. _Was that terrible man who was chasing me, Keitaro? Why would Keitaro want to hurt me? Maybe it's symbolic of my current relationship with him. AHHH! I'm so confused!_

Naru fell over backwards onto the floor and threw her arms over her head, just lying on the polished planks. She was so tired that she was ready to break down and start sobbing. After a few more minutes of self-pity, she rolled onto her stomach and then crawled back to her bed. Her head had barely hit the pillow when her mind switched off and she fell into a deep, exhausted sleep. For the first time in a week, she was able to sleep solidly without any disturbing phantasms.

OOO

"Hinata Hot Springs; Hinata Hot Springs," a recorded voice called out over the P.A. system.

Adam awoke from his nap as the train pulled into the station. He got up and stretched, and then he retrieved his bag from the overhead storage rack. As he stepped out onto the station platform, he glanced at his watch and saw that it was just 6:15 A.M.

Hinata House was only about ten minutes away by foot. It was a pleasant morning for an early walk. The air was still relatively warm even though it was nearly the end of December. As he walked along, Adam let his senses explore the environment around him. He still found it amazing that most people were blind to all the activity that went on all about them.

Walking down the street, he could feel the small, nocturnal animals that were finishing up their nightly chores and were getting ready to call it a "day." He glanced up as a large owl glided silently by over his head. In a pile of boulders, he felt the presence of a badger spirit (mujina) watching him as he strolled by. As he passed an older house, he felt an earth-bound ghost observing him from one of its dark windows. Another one flitted through the trees across the street. The night was full of marvels.

When he arrived at the base of the stairs leading up to the inn, he decided to spend some time walking the grounds and doing an impromptu security check. That should have been Keitaro's job, but Adam wasn't certain that Keitaro was fully aware of all of his duties. Anyway, Adam felt that it was better to be on the safe side.

As he climbed past Haruka's tea shop, he noticed that there was a light on in her bedroom window. _I think I'll stop by and visit her after doing my walk around_, he decided. As he passed her shop, Adam stepped off the stairs and on to a narrow side path that headed into the trees that surrounded the grounds. He set his bag down and started down the trail.

After about a minute, he left the path and walked around a low stand of winter-bare bushes. Behind the small copse was a carved, granite stone standing about a meter tall. It was one of the dozen warding stones that surrounded the grounds and kept out negative entities. It also had a repelling effect on humans that were up to no good. Those kinds of people normally wouldn't even think about approaching the inn. Adam examined the stone carefully and determined that it was still in good shape.

Continuing down the path, he came upon another ward stone that was hidden behind some bushes. When he examined this stone, he saw that some of the deeply carved symbols were being overgrown with moss. The next stone was the same way. Adam could feel that the protective barrier was much weaker on this side of the old hotel. As he continued walking the perimeter path, he found that the other nine stones were still in excellent shape.

The perimeter path eventually emptied back onto the stairway from the opposite side, having made a circled tour of the property. After recovering his bag and walking back down the stairs to the tea house, Adam saw that the dining room lights were glowing brightly. It was time to surprise Big Sis.

OOO

Keitaro carefully descended the long flight of stone stairs that led from Hinata House to his Aunt Haruka's tea house. He needed to talk to her and she was usually up before dawn getting ready for her breakfast customers. As he was stepping down in the dim, early morning light, a small, early bird fluttered by in front of his face, causing him to startle and to jump backwards. Unfortunately, he lost his balance and proceeded to bounce and roll down the stairs.

_This is ridiculous_, he thought to himself as he bounced particularly hard. _That had to have been a female bird. I almost always get into trouble when there are girls around!_

When he finally came to rest, he looked up and saw Haruka holding a broom and bent over looking at his face. Around the cigarette hanging from her lips, she said, "Good morning, Keitaro. I see you're already up to your usual antics."

Keitaro got to his feet and brushed himself off. His glasses were askew and a bandage had appeared on his forehead. When he was done straightening himself, he glanced at his aunt and said, "Aunt… I mean Haruka, if you have some time I really need some advice."

She looked at him for a moment, and then she said, "I really need to get ready to open for breakfast. Can you wait for a couple of hours? I'll have more time to spend with you then."

Keitaro rubbed the back of his head and said, "Well, I really need to talk now, if possible."

"Okay," she replied. "Grab a rag. You can wipe down the tables and help me to get ready while you talk."

"I'm really worried about Naru," Keitaro said quietly as he began polishing the dining room tables. "She's been acting very strange lately, and I don't think that she's getting much sleep. We can't get through any study sessions without her falling asleep in the middle of it. I've also been hearing her moaning at night through the floor boards."

Haruka placed a bundle of paper napkins on a table and began topping off the napkin dispensers. "Is Naru under some unusual stress right now?" she asked. "I mean, other than studying for her exam?"

"Well…," Keitaro hesitated. "At Christmas, Naru found a picture that seems to show that Mutsumi might be my promised girl. She tried to break-up with me in favor of Mutsumi, but we're still sort of together. We haven't been able to decide what to do, so we're waiting until after the next entrance exam."

"I can see where that might affect Naru," Haruka stated. "Romantic relationships are very important to young women, and even in the best of times can be very stressful. And Naru's always had problems with males." She glanced sideways at Keitaro. "You know, you are going to have to make a decision as to who you want to be with. It's not fair to either Naru or Mutsumi to just leave them hanging. But then, you already know that, don't you?"

Keitaro sighed as he gave a last wipe at the table. "I know it," he admitted quietly. "It's just that I like both of the girls… a lot. I don't want to hurt either one of them. And I'm so confused. I've been concentrating on my promised girl for so long that I'm scared to turn loose of the dream."

Haruka put the napkins away and brought out a box of sugar packets. "Well, I can't make your decision for you. That's part of being an adult - taking responsibility for yourself."

Keitaro nodded his head in agreement. "I understand that… but it's still hard."

"Well," Haruka replied, while keeping her voice even. Sometimes her nephew's indecision irritated her immensely. "If for the nothing else, you should think about the girls."

A small bell tinkled as the front door quietly opened. Haruka and Keitaro glanced around as Adam stepped silently into the shop.

"Look what the cat dragged in," Haruka said with a smile.

"Hey, guys," Adam said while setting his bag on the floor. "What's up?" He noticed some tension in the air. "Did I come at a bad time? I can always come back later."

"No, that's okay, Uncle…., err I mean Adam. Haruka was just giving me some good advice. We were just finishing."

Adam winked at Haruka. "Yes, Big Sis normally dishes out some good advice. She uses just the right amount of spice, so it only burns a little bit as it goes down."

Suddenly a fan appeared in Haruka's fist. Before he had time to wink again, the fan smacked down on his head, knocking him to the ground. As he sat there, Adam could have sworn that he saw several sets of brightly colored stars dancing the tango about his head. "Pretty stars spinning about," he mumbled happily to himself.

After a moment or two, Adam shook his head clear and then climbed back to his feet. "Hey, what's with the slap stick?" he grumbled crossly.

Haruka shook a finger at him. "I thought I taught you to have more respect for your seniors. I noted an unfortunate relapse on your part."

Keitaro snickered as he saw somebody else for once getting on the wrong side of Haruka's fan.

Haruka promptly tapped him on the head with her fan. "Is something funny here, Nephew?" she stated menacingly.

"No, Ma'am," Keitaro replied quickly. "I was just clearing my throat."

Adam yawned and stretched his arms above his head. When he was done, he looked at his nephew. "Well, Keitaro. There is an important chore that you need to complete before you do anything else today. Go find a bucket of soapy water and a scrub brush... also a scraper or safety razor. I'll wait here for you."

Keitaro shrugged and headed for Haruka's storage area.

Haruka gave Adam a penetrating look. "What's going on?" she asked.

"I checked around this morning before coming here. Two of the ward stones on this side are partially masked with moss and the ward is failing there. I'm going to have Keitaro clean them off and make sure that he knows how to maintain them. Didn't Mom leave him any instructions regarding them?"

"No, she didn't and I haven't checked them for several months, either. Damn! Which stones are damaged?"

"Wards Two and Three. It's suspicious that only those two stones were affected. The moss is covering a part of the operative section of the spell. If it wards were only powered by an onmyoji spell, they would be useless by now. It would appear that using that hybrid spell has paid off for us. I'm glad that the storage vaults and the armory are guarded in the same way."

Haruka shook her head in disgust. "We'll have to keep a close eye on things in case it was a deliberate attempt to breach the barrier. If it was deliberate, whoever it is may try again. I think I'll work on strengthening the spell."

Adam smiled at his sister. "Well," he said. "You're the priestess. If you need any help, let me know."

"Oh, by the way," she commented. "Mom left you a packet while you were gone. It's in the back."

"Oh, goody – I can hardly wait to find out about the latest scheme that I'm being volunteered for. Well, I'll be coming back when I'm done with Keitaro, so I'll fetch it then. And have some of your wonderful tea."

"No flirting with the staff," Haruka said primly, and then she winked at him.

At that moment, Keitaro wandered into the room carrying a half-filled bucket of soapy water with a hand brush floating in it. A slight mist rose from the warm water.

Adam glanced back at his sister. "Do you happen to have a flashlight that we can borrow?"

"Sure," Haruka said. She went behind the counter where her register sat and opened a drawer. She shortly returned with a light and thrust it into Adam's hands. "I'll have your tea ready when you return."

"Great. Come on, Keitaro. I need to show you part of your duty as landlord of the family hotel."

Dragging his bucket along, Keitaro followed Adam up the stairs and then off onto a side path that he hadn't noticed before. After about forty yards, they came to a stop and he set the bucket down.

Adam turned around and gave Keitaro a direct look in the eyes. "Alright, Kei… Do you remember much of the training that you went through as a youngster?"

Keitaro looked at his uncle and then glanced off to the side as if he were embarrassed. "I remember some of it, but I'm sure that I've forgotten most of it. I was more interested in getting into Tokyo University than I was in the family arts. I mostly went through the motions because it was required of me. Dad never pursued the family arts and I never thought that I would need them either."

Still carefully watching Keitaro, Adam said, "You probably would have been correct under normal circumstances. My understanding is that a little less than half of the current family members are actually following the traditions. It is easy in our modern days for people to forget the hidden realms that surround and interpenetrate our physical world. Modern science totally ignores them and pretends that they are fantasies, not because of any proof but because that is simply the opinion of most scientists. What's worse is that it's not even an informed opinion; they never bother to check the actual facts before opening their rather large pie holes. The majority of people follow right along with the scientists and, truthfully, most people are perfectly safe in their ignorance. If you had gotten right into Toudai, you probably would have been the same way, at least initially. But that's not how your life went."

Keitaro shifted his eyes back to his uncle's.

"Instead, you received Hinata House and all of the responsibility… and family baggage, that goes with it. As you know, the Urashima family is one of the older samurai families. But they weren't just common soldiers; they and several other families, specialized in killing demons and other harmful spiritual entities. These negative beings didn't go away just because the scientists have denied their existence. These families and certain other individuals and groups still fight those bad boys and generally protect the human masses in their ignorance, although most governments are quietly aware of the situation. By default, your taking responsibility for Hinata House has involved you on the edges of this battle."

Keitaro swallowed visibly and looked down at his feet.

"What you need to understand is this: the Urashima family maintains certain depositories and armories that are scattered around Japan, always incorporated within preexisting businesses. These facilities are used to store artifacts, and often dangerous magical items for safe-keeping; things that have been acquired by the family over the generations. Many facilities have archives containing rare and valuable scrolls and books. Because of its nearness to Tokyo, the main family storage facility is here, at Hinata House. The hotel used to provide excellent cover for strangers arriving to access the facility. About ten years ago, the most often sought after material was relocated to Kyoto. The facility here is now used for long-term storage that doesn't require frequent access. Some other items were relocated here for safety."

Keitaro looked back up at Adam again.

"You don't have worry about the storage facilities here, because that duty was given to me. However, by your being the manager of Hinata House, you have become responsible for maintaining some of the outer security of the facility. There is also the possibility that you may eventually have to help fight off an attack of some sort. The reason that things were relocated was to help camouflage the fact that there is anything here – to give it a lower profile. Hopefully, this means that we can avoid any unpleasant situations. But we have to be prepared anyway. Do you understand?"

Keitaro unhappily nodded his head. "Yeah, I do, but this whole thing has caught me totally by surprise. Haruka explained some aspects of my responsibilities here, but this wasn't covered."

Adam smiled at him. "I expect that Sis was waiting to see if you were going to stay or if you were going to bail. I understand from Haruka that the current crop of residents here hasn't been that easy on you. If you had bailed, then there would have been no reason for you to know about the more secret aspects of this place. But that's changed now."

"Why has it changed now?" Keitaro asked.

"Because we may have someone secretly trying to gain access to the grounds," Adam replied. "So, we need to increase our security alertness. I'm going to show you another part of your responsibility. Leave the bucket and follow me."

Adam led him around a clump of bushes and up to a carved standing stone. Keitaro saw that the stone had four sides that came to a point, like a small obelisk, and was about a meter in height. He could see some symbols carved in its surfaces in the brightening morning light. He thought that he recognized some of the glyphs from when he was in training, but it had been a long time ago and he wasn't so sure. The surface facing away from the hotel was almost covered with symbols. The surfaces on either side had only about a dozen symbols. The side facing the inn had only four characters. Keitaro realized that he could feel a small amount of energy radiating from the stone."

"This is a warding stone," Adam said. "There are twelve of these placed in a circle around the hotel. That path that we were just on gives access to all of them. Part of your normal duties here is to check on these wards at least once a week. The wards prevent negative being from getting onto the grounds. The main thing to check is the carvings. They need to be kept clean and intact. If you find a broken stone, contact me or Haruka immediately."

He bent over and pointed at the front face that was covered with sigils. "This face contains the spell that repels intruders. It also hosts a sub-spell that subconsciously convinces those same intruders that there is nothing worth bothering with here. There are also a few other goodies and surprises mixed into the matrix here that I won't go into now. Are you following me so far?"

Keitaro nodded.

"The two side faces contain a spell which links this stone with the other eleven, forming an energy barrier surrounding the property. On the back side facing the hotel is a spell that allows a trained person inside the hotel to link into the system and to actively monitor what is going on. We don't usually have anyone monitoring the ward, but some families, such as the Aoyama clan, have certain strategic wards that they monitor 24/7."

Keitaro again nodded his understanding. Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind. "When you said the Aoyama clan," he said. "Did you mean like Motoko Aoyama, who is a resident here?"

Adam glanced at Keitaro. "Yep, Motoko is a member of that clan… In any case, these ward stones are actually two meters in length. Half of the stone is buried. Carved on the very bottom is a spell that links the stone into one of the earth's energy grid lines, sometimes called ley lines, which is what powers the stone. Come here and hold your hand next to the stone. Use your left hand."

Keitaro bent over and held his hand next to the stone. He could definitely feel an energy field coming from the ward. It had almost a light, spongy feel to it.

Adam was watching him closely. "Good," he said smiling. "You're able to feel the energy with no problems. You have a lot of potential if you choose to develop it. Now, this energy field that you are sensing will normally repel anything that might otherwise stick to the stone: ice, snow, leaves, spider webs, bird droppings, and so on. So, when you inspect a ward, you need to make sure that the stone is intact, that the markings are clear, that the stone is clean, and that you can feel its energy field."

Adam walked back to the path with Keitaro following. "That was Ward One," he said. "Grab your bucket and follow me." They walked for about a minute then Adam stepped off the path again. "This is Ward Two," he stated.

They walked around some more bushes and Keitaro saw another stone. He could immediately feel that the energy coming from this stone was much less than from the other stone. When he walked around to the front, he saw that moss was growing over the center of the stone.

After glancing at him, Adam said, "As you can see, this stone is in trouble. Ward Three is in the same condition." He pointed at the moss. "This should not be able to grow here. The stone's energy field should have repelled any normal moss. Okay, put your left hand above the moss and close your eyes. What do you sense?"

Keitaro followed his uncle's directions. At first he could only detect the stone's energy field. For some reason it was actually pulsing, rather than the solid flow that the healthy stone had projected. A few moments later, he began to visualize the patch of moss adhering to the rock. In his mind's eye, the moss was a bright greenish-yellow with minute flower stalks protruding in spots. He could feel the repelling influence of the stone, that it was attempting to send the moss flying away, but it couldn't. He sensed/saw that a collection of black, smoky tendrils was woven all through the moss. The tendrils stuck to the stone like glue, holding the mat of moss in place. Keitaro was becoming nauseated from just being near the living stain. He told Adam what he sensed.

Adam grunted and quickly glanced around, scouting the area with his ki energy. He didn't sense anything dangerous nearby, but his instincts were suddenly screaming at him. While still watching his surroundings, he said. "It would appear that a dark magician fashioned a sticky-bomb out of the moss. See if you can remove it with the scraper."

Keitaro pulled the scraper from his back pocket and started in on the moss. After several minutes of effort, he managed only to dislodge just a little bit of it. "This stuff doesn't want to come off," he panted.

Still looking around, Adam said, "Okay; try this: Hold your right hand over the moss. Now imagine that a beam of strong, bluish energy is radiating from the palm of your hand and highlighting the moss. You can close your eyes if you feel that you need to. Everywhere that your light strikes, see the black tendrils dissipate: the black turns to grey, then to white, and then it vanishes. Keep concentrating on that image. Feel your palm tingle as the energy leaves it; feel the heat of the energy striking the moss. Do you feel it?"

"Yes," Keitaro replied with his eyes closed. "I definitely feel the heat in my hand."

"Okay. Now open your eyes and use the scraper again."

This time as Keitaro ran the tool over the stone, the moss came off in narrow strips. The freshly exposed stone was perfectly clean. The energy radiating from the stone began to climb noticeably. Adams instincts were now yelling at him, but he still sensed nothing nearby. He pulled out his concealed katana and held it by his side.

"Keitaro," he said still looking about. "You need to finish this stone as quickly as possible. I think that something bad is about to happen. Scrape the stone clean, using the blue energy as needed. Then check the carvings. Use the scrub brush to clean them if necessary. If something happens, get to the other side of the stone so the barrier can protect you. Hurry now."

Keitaro worked as fast as he could. Most of the moss came right off, but he had to reapply the blue energy around the lower edge of the patch. He was so nervous that at first he couldn't get the blue energy to flow. Remembering some of his earlier training, he took some deep breaths and was able to calm down enough to get the energy moving again. With the last strip of moss removed, the stone appeared to be fully functioning again. He didn't see any moss in the engravings, but he took a quick scrub at it just to be sure.

"Done," he stated hurriedly.

"Good," Adam said. "Grab the pail and make sure you have the scraper. We're jogging to Ward Three. You'll be doing the same there, as quickly as you can."

They got back on the path and started jogging. About 15 seconds later, Adam led him off the path.

"There it is," Adam pointed.

He stood guard as Keitaro began to breathe deeply and concentrate on bringing forth the cleansing energy. Two minutes later, as Keitaro was scraping off his first strip of moss, Adam suddenly felt as if the sky was tearing apart. "Keitaro!" Adam called. "Get behind the barrier. We've got some really bad company coming!"

Keitaro looked up as his uncle shouted at him. Adam was dashing away from the stone towards something that Keitaro wasn't able to see, although he could feel a cold chill running up his neck. He quickly dove behind the protective stone. When he looked again, he saw what he could only describe as a rip occurring in the fabric of space. To Keitaro, it looked as if a thick, jagged black line about ten yards high suddenly appeared just above the ground and opened up like a huge jaw that was lying on its side. As it opened wider, a sickly yellowish-green light flooded out. He could just make out some dark, grotesque shapes moving in the awful glow. His uncle was running straight for it.

Suddenly, like a door closing, the tainted light vanished. Keitaro blinked several times in the morning dimness trying to clear the spots from his eyes. When he could see again he froze in surprise.

Adam cursed under his breath as he dashed towards where he knew a portal was about to open. He hoped that he could arrive in time to ambush whatever was crossing over before it could get itself oriented. Suddenly, a spatial rift opened up in front of him and an ugly, sickly green light began pouring out. This was followed be several huge, lumbering turtle-shaped demons.

_Not more freakin' turtle demons!_ Adam yelled in his mind. He increased his speed and then he jumped into a shundo and vanished to normal sight. He reappeared while coming to a rest upon the first demon's wide shoulder, and then he quickly jabbed his katana through an available ear-hole, throwing his weight into the stab. The demon squealed as he jumped away from it. There was a swirl of black, and then it was gone.

He hit the ground in a roll that carried him between the second demon's ankles. As he came out of his roll, he chopped the edge of his sword against both of the exposed rear knee joints, causing the creature to fall over backwards and smash its heavy bulk into the ground, just missing Adam. _I've got to stop doing that_, he thought. _I'll probably get smashed flat the next time_.

He had to duck to avoid being brained by a large club being swung by the third demon. _Since when did Turtles begin using weapons?_ He skipped to the side to avoid another blow and suddenly felt another – smaller, portal opening nearby.

Keitaro froze as he saw the demons. _Awww, CRAP!_ he thought to himself. _Why are there MONSTERS here?_ Without hesitation, Keitaro took off running uphill towards the hotel. "Waaah," he yelled as he ran, tears spraying out of the corners of his eyes. However, after several dozen steps, he tripped and planted his face in the dirt – stunning him for a moment. It also knocked some sense back into him.

Keitaro sat up and shook his head clear. He was about to start running again but a series of thoughts rapidly spinning through his mind forced him to pause. _There are monsters attacking Hinata House… everyone's in danger… Uncle Adam is fighting by himself… the ward is damaged… if monsters get passed Uncle… the girls may get hurt… can't run away… have responsibilities… what can I do… THE WARD!_

Keitaro jumped to his feet and began running back towards the fight. He was terrified and tears were again streaming from his eyes, but he was now resolute. There was something that he could do to protect his charges: the inn and his girls. He could finish repairing the warding stone while his uncle was distracting the monsters.

He landed on his knees in front of the small obelisk and then he grabbed up the discarded scraper. Quickly, he began to pry at the remaining moss. He glanced up once as one of the turtle-shaped monsters briefly screamed, and then he put his concentration back on the job. _Now I think I know why Motoko hates turtles! _He had to take a few deep breaths to calm himself enough to allow the cleansing blue energy to begin flowing from his right hand. He spent a few extra seconds making sure that the mossy patch was thoroughly saturated with his energy, and then he re-attacked it with the tool. The last scrap fell away and Keitaro snatched the soapy scrub brush and went to it. He could feel the warding field powering up to a much higher level than it had been just moments ago. _Done!_

Suddenly, there was a high pitched scream of anger causing Keitaro to bounce from his knees to his feet in fright. He looked over his shoulder and saw that his uncle was swinging his katana at a huge red serpent. The thing had its mouth wide open showing four large fangs, and was lunging back and forth at Adam. Keitaro turned pale and then he leaped to the other side of the barrier. He had done what he could.

Adam jumped over another club swing and jabbed his katana at one of the demon's elbow joints. The point connected with a dull crunch that he could feel through his sword, and the turtle lost its grip on the weapon, which spun away and smashed up against an old red maple tree. He quickly aimed his right hand and fired a burst of hard ki energy right into the startled demon's eyes. This was followed through with a ki-enhanced sword chop that separated the creature's head from its body. There was a burst of dark particles as the thing disintegrated in death.

After checking for any new threats, he glanced around and saw that Keitaro was working on getting the warding stone back on line. _Good going, Keitaro!_ he thought to himself. He threw his ki out again and thought that he detected a dozen or so humans hiding near the front of the hotel property, but he suddenly lost the sense of them.

A crashing sound suddenly coming from a nearby mixed stand of bushes and small trees caught his attention. As he watched, some of the branches were shoved aside and a huge, scarlet and orange mottled serpent lunged out and headed right for him. Its body was about a half yard in girth and it was about seven yards in length. It stopped for a moment and then it reared up so that its head was about four yards above the ground. It held itself like a monstrous cobra, but without the hood. Slithering forward again, the serpent opened its mouth and displayed two sets of razor sharp fangs.

"Yessss," it said in a feminine voice. "There it issss! But why issss it not weaker?"

"No you don't!" Adam blocked its path and held his sword point downwards and to his right side, ready to slice upwards and to the left. The snake stopped slithering forward and glared at him with large, yellow eyes with vertical slits.

"Move asssside two legssss! I have not the time to play wissss you."

"You have more than enough time, Demon. Let's dance."

Adam jumped to his right as the snake's head darted forward in an attempt to quickly eliminate its opponent. He pivoted to his left and attempted to swing his katana into the serpent's exposed "neck," but the creature drew back too fast for the blow to connect. It immediately darted forward again and Adam had to duck and fend its mouth off with the edge of his sword.

For the next very long minute, Adam had all that he could do to just avoid the serpent's mouth. The snake seemed to be tireless, darting its head back and forth, attacking from different angles, and using its weight in an attempt to force Adam backwards towards the ward. The strikes came so quickly that he had no time to plan ahead; he could only react to defend himself. Then suddenly, like a switch being thrown, Adam felt the ward wall behind him powering up to full strength.

The demon snake opened its mouth and shrieked in anger. In the instant that the serpent was distracted, Adam darted forward and chopped into its body with a downward diagonal slice from his katana. He jumped backwards in time to fend off another head strike.

The demon began using the same attack pattern again, except this time there wasn't as much energy behind the strikes. Adam was easily able to fend off the blows with the edge of his sword. Suddenly there was a gunshot, and a 45 caliber slug slammed into the serpent's head, just forward of its ear canal. As the blood sprayed, Adam took a swing at its mouth, shearing off one of its lower fangs at the gum line. Two more gunshots followed in quick succession and the serpent fell over onto its side, its tail beating a rapid tattoo on the ground. Adam stepped forward and struck its head from its body, his katana glowing with energy. The powerful demon seemed to melt into a swirl of black particles that faded away, leaving only the detached fang behind.

Adam saw Haruka step out from behind a tree, holding a black Sig Sauer P220 handgun in a combat cover-down position. He watched as she carefully stalked over to where the second turtle demon that Adam had crippled was trying to crawl away. She fired two more rounds into the turtle, double-tapping it in the back of its head. As the demon's essence swirled darkly around her, Haruka calmly performed a tactical reload of her pistol; casually dropping the still partially filled magazine into a pocket of her apron.

_Damn, she's good!_ Adam thought to himself.

End of Chapter.

A/N: Thanks for reading.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: "Love Hina" is the creative property of Ken Akamatsu and his associates. Any new characters not included in the original manga or the anime (written by Shō Aikawa) are my own creative property.

Chapter Seven (Revised):

Adam saw Haruka step out from behind a tree, holding a black Sig Sauer P220 handgun in a combat cover-down position. He watched as she carefully stalked over to where the second turtle demon that Adam had crippled was trying to crawl away. She fired two more rounds into the turtle, double-tapping it in the back of its head. As the demon's essence swirled darkly around her, Haruka calmly performed a tactical reload of her pistol; casually dropping the still partially filled magazine into a pocket of her apron.

_Damn, she's good!_ Adam thought to himself. He again released some of his energy and scouted the area, looking for other possible threats or intruders. He noted a multiple human source that seemed to be fleeing the area, but nothing else.

He bent over and picked up the serpent's tooth. It was a foot long and had a diameter of about three inches at its base. As he held it in his hand, he concentrated for a moment and visualized a golden energy field surrounding the tooth and purifying it. In his mind's eye, he could see a vaporous darkness being dissipated by the glowing energy. After sanitizing the sharp piece of ivory, Adam held it up for Haruka to inspect.

"Would you like a souvenir?"

Haruka looked at it oddly for a moment. "Why didn't it disperse with the rest of the remains," she asked.

Adam shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, but it does happen occasionally. I've salvaged some really odd items that were left over after a demon battle. Do you want this? All the tissue has disintegrated, so just the ivory is left."

Haruka shook her head. "No thanks. Why don't you add it to that weird collection of yours."

Adam smiled and tucked it into one of his back pockets. He then turned around and walked over to where Keitaro was waiting, with Haruka close on his tail.

Keitaro was standing near the warding stone looking like a stunned bullock: his eyes were blank and staring, his hands were hanging loosely at his sides and were making funny little grasping motions, and his mouth was making little puffing movements, almost appearing fish-like in appearance.

Adam stopped in front of Keitaro and bent over and peered into his face. He then stood up straight again and shook his head. "I don't think anybody's home right now," he said while giving Haruka a wink. He held his hand in front of the blank face and snapped his fingers.

Keitaro startled and some awareness made its way back into his eyes. He slowly looked up at his uncle and then his eyes became alert again. "Oh, Uncle Adam," he said. "I was just having the strangest dream. Monsters were attacking Hinata House and we had to fight them off before they captured our flag. And then Haruka rode in on a big white horse and slew the dragon!"

Adam heard a snickering sound coming from Haruka. He reached over and grasped Keitaro on the shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Actually, Kei," he said quietly. "That wasn't a dream – at least it mostly wasn't a dream," he revised, while visualizing the image of Haruka sitting on a big, white charger and swinging a large broadsword over her head. It was his turn to snicker. "Monsters - actually they were demons - really did invade the property. You did a very good job in getting the ward wall working again. I'm very proud of you."

Haruka nodded her agreement over Adam's shoulder. "You did real well, Kei," she said.

"You also just got a good example of why it's important to keep the wards in good condition. Why don't you go back up to the inn and rest for a while. You've had a very eventful morning, so far. You also might want to avoid mentioning this to your residents – they might freak... plus its 'Family' business."

Keitaro nodded and headed back up the hill. Adam collected the abandoned cleaning supplies and glanced at Haruka.

"What do you think?" he said as they headed down the path and towards the stairway.

"He did much better than I thought he would," Haruka replied. "You do know that he started out running away before he found his courage, don't you?"

"I figured as much. But the important thing is that he _did_ find his courage. We may have more to work with here than we thought. Hopefully, he'll be able to draw upon this strength faster the next time that he needs it."

Haruka blew a long line of cigarette smoke thoughtfully into the air as they stepped out onto the stone stairway just above her tea house. She glanced at her kid brother. "Mom was hinting that the Elders are going to require that Keitaro resume his training, now that he has accepted such an important position," she tossed out.

Adam gave her a sideways glance from the corner of his eyes. He could see where this conversation was heading. He shook his head and said, "I'm very hesitant about taking Keitaro on," he said. "I tried to help him before when we were teenagers, sort of as an unofficial tutor, but he either couldn't or wouldn't concentrate or apply enough effort to get much of anywhere. He had the ability but not the interest. All he would do was daydream about some little girl that he couldn't even remember, and getting into Toudai. He was obsessed with it. It got to be too frustrating and was a waste of my time and effort. You can't help someone who won't help themselves. It's good to have dreams and goals, but you also have to live in the real world, at least part of the time."

"You've said that you think he has potential…" Haruka said as she unlocked the door to her shop and flipped the "closed" sign to "open."

"…and he does. He's always had some really great potential, but he's so far refused to develop it. I'm not interested in twisting his arm. He's a big boy now… with big boys' pants and everything. I like Keitaro, and I'd like to see him be able to keep the inn, but ultimately that's up to him."

He thought about it for a moment, "While I'm here, I'll be glad to help him out with suggestions, and if he shows some interest I'm willing to teach him some things. But unless he shows some definite commitment to learning the family arts, that's as far as I'm willing to go. Besides, I'm still learning things myself."

She blew another puff of smoke. "Maybe so, but you're good enough to be instructing part time at the Gods' Cry School for Tsuruko," she replied. "She told me once that you had a gift for taking students that weren't doing well and turning them around in a short time."

He stopped and looked her in the eyes. "That's because I use a different teaching style and approach. The Shinmei-ryu still think of themselves as full-fledged samurai and are pretty hard core with their training, which is not a criticism. All of the instructors at the Gods' Cry School are members of the Shinmei-ryu, but only a small percentage of the students will be recruited into the organization. Most students are just there to learn swordsmanship from an excellent training school. So the dojo instructors concentrate on mental discipline, physical training, standard kendo training, and only some relatively simple ki handling techniques. Gifted students and family members are recruited into the Shinmei-ryu and then given special training that includes their secret techniques. They also get various amounts of training from the metaphysical facility, which primarily is a school for training priests, priestesses, and magical users, which is also why they are primo demon fighters."

He paused for a moment and then continued, "The special students that I get are those recruit students that have excellent potential and motivation, but for some reason aren't fully connecting with their potential. I usually find that it is a ki handling difficulty that is the root. The Shinmei-ryu generally teaches that ki is formed within your body and through the use of certain mental techniques and discipline that you can slowly train your body to produce higher quantities of ki, which can then be used by channeling it through a focus, such as a sword. What actually happens with their mental technique is that eventually out of boredom and desperation, the subconscious will quietly open a backdoor channel into the environment and begin sucking in outside energy which then appears to be a significant increase in the body's ki energy supply. After a while, this extra channel remains permanently open and accessible, giving the student large amounts of ki energy to use. This can take years to finally occur. What I do is teach the student a different technique to do exactly the same thing. I show him how to deliberately open the channel into the environment and then to patch it into his ki center, from which he was previously taught to tap the energy from. By doing this exercise frequently for a month or so, it's easy for the student to automatically open the channel whenever he needs the extra energy. Its also easy to hide your ki level by leaving the channel closed when you don't need it. The Shinmei-ryu technique results in the fully-powered ki level being turned on all the time, generally making their members easy to detect at a distance."

He shrugged. "There's benefits to both techniques. My family taught me the method that I use, which is why I was able to learn what are considered to be advanced techniques at a relatively early age. Of course, I still have to do the kata repetitions so that I keep from losing the years I spent building up my muscle memories."

Haruka nodded and pointed towards a counter. "You can drop that stuff behind there. I'll get you some tea while you read over whatever's in that packet that Mom left for you. It's on the table in the corner."

"Thanks," he said while taking a seat and carefully opening the large manila envelope. After glancing over the first page, Adam closed his eyes and carefully leaned back in his chair. A soft sigh escaped from his lips and he slowly rubbed his hands over his upper face trying to erase some of his tiredness.

A bell tinkled as a customer opened the door and took a seat nearby. There was a soft thump as Haruka set a steaming cup of tea on the table in front of him.

"That good, huh?" she commented.

"Yeah," he replied. "I'll tell you about it later."

"Sure," she said as she headed for her customer.

Over the next ten minutes, the tea house slowly filled with customers. Adam quietly enjoyed his cup of tea while he chewed over the information contained in the envelope. He definitely wasn't pleased with the situation, and his first gut instinct was to get on a plane and head back to California for a few years. Maybe it will have blown over by then.

_Yeah, right_, he snorted to himself. With a shrug, he scooped up the papers and his nearby bag and headed for the inn.

OOO

Keitaro was relaxing in the men's hot tub. He could feel the soothing heat relaxing his over-stressed body; to the point where he had started to drift off into a warm, comfortable sleep.

Almost.

Two things struck him almost simultaneously and destroyed his mood. The first was a face full of hot water as his sleeping body slipped bonelessly beneath the surface of the water. He suddenly erupted back out again like a broaching baby whale, spewing and blowing hot liquid all over the place. The second killjoy was the memory of what had happened earlier that morning.

Demons had attacked Hinata House! They really had! It wasn't some weird nightmare. It had really, really happened. He had seen it with his own eyes.

_What should I do about this?_ he asked himself. _I'm a nobody. Why should I have to deal with demons? I just wanted to get into Tokyo U, so that I can meet my promise girl and we can_ _live happily ever after – just like the stories claim._

He slapped at the water in frustration and sighed. _The trouble is that I've accepted responsibility for the inn and the girls living here. That's like making a promise, and I_ always _keep my promises. I can't run away, even if it's scary. Scary! That's an_ _understatement. The girls have become a second family to me and I don't want to see them hurt. My promise girl is probably also living here. I don't know anything about fighting demons or magic barriers or anything like that. I guess I'll talk to Aunt Haruka again; maybe later today after I've done my chores._

Now that he had some sort of a temporary game plan, Keitaro felt comfortable enough to relax again for just a few more moments. Shinobu would be serving breakfast shortly.

After drying off and putting on some fresh clothing, Keitaro wandered into the dining room. Shortly thereafter, Motoko wandered into the room. She suddenly stopped and gave a large yawn before carefully sitting at her usual place at the western-style dining table.

"Good morning, Motoko," Keitaro said as he took his seat at the table.

Motoko gave him a neutral look and then yawned again. "Morning, Urashima. I'm not sure that there's anything good about it though."

"Rough night?"

She just nodded and looked away; not inviting any further comment.

"Good morning, Sempai... Motoko," Shinobu said as she carried a large pot of miso soup to the already set table.

"Good morning, Shinobu."

"Morning," Motoko grumbled.

Shinobu gave her a curious look and then glanced at Keitaro as he said, "Oh, you might want to make sure that there is another table setting. Uncle Adam is back."

She smiled in return. "I know. He stopped by the kitchen on his way upstairs to say hello to me."

Motoko immediately perked up, her tiredness forgotten. "Urashima is back?" she said, making sure that she had heard correctly. _Now maybe I can get some answers_, she thought.

"Yes, he is," Keitaro said. "I… talked with him earlier."

Shinobu came back with a platter of grilled fish and a small bowl of pickles, which she added to the growing collection forming on the table. She was about to ask Keitaro if he would mind calling the others, when a whole troop of residents descended on the dining room. Mutsumi and Naru had bed-heads and they yawned as they entered the room. As usual, Mutsumi was wearing her trademark smile. Behind them, Kitsune dragged herself into the room, staggering like a zombie, with an uber bed-head and morning breath to die for (literally). Next came Sarah, rubbing her eyes and glaring at the morning light; until she smelled the food and then she hurried to her seat. The trailer of the pack was Adam, bringing up the rear with Su riding on his shoulders. When he came to a stop, she leaped into her chair and started to reach for the food.

"Not yet, Su," Motoko said. "Shinobu is still bringing the breakfast out. Have some patience."

"Awww, Motoko!" Su whined. "Adam told everyone that breakfast was ready! I'm really hungry."

Adam had walked up behind Su as she was protesting the unfairness of having to wait on breakfast. He placed a hand on her head and said, "Now, Kaolla, you know that I told you that breakfast was _almost_ ready. You're not going to starve in the next few minutes. Shinobu-chan has cooked a nice breakfast for everyone and you should show her some respect by waiting for her to join us.' He ruffled her hair and then he took an empty seat at the table between Sarah and Kitsune.

There was a series of light thumps as Shinobu reappeared and placed cups of coffee in front of Naru, Kitsune, and Sarah. "Anyone else want coffee?" she asked. "Nobody? Alright, I'll be back in a moment."

As Shinobu returned to the kitchen Adam looked over at Sarah and Su, and said quietly, "Well ladies, a little birdie told me that you both had an adventure in my room a couple of days ago. It's not a lot of fun to come back from a trip and find that your home has been burglarized and your things gone through and trashed."

Sarah gave him an innocent look, pretending that she didn't know what he was talking about. Su looked up with surprise and said, "I didn't see any birdie. I'll bet that it was really some super-cool, secret spy device that identified us by sniffing our DNA. Can I see it? Please!" she said while giving him the "puppy dog eyes."

"No, Kaolla," he replied. "It wasn't a spy device. It was a little white birdie with a bright, red head."

Motoko suddenly choked as her swallow of tea went down the wrong way. Adam glanced at her and winked, and then he looked back at the girls.

"Anyway, the little birdie is a friend of mine. She was very annoyed when she saw you two burglarizing my room. In fact, she was so annoyed that she put a little, tiny curse on you that brought you a bunch of bad luck yesterday. The curse has worn off now, but the next time she will probably put a real whopper of a curse on you that might last for weeks. That wouldn't be a good thing for you. So here's the deal: you stay out of my room unless I invite you inside, and my friend won't curse you again. Is it a deal?"

Sarah had gone pale at the mention of curses, and she quickly nodded her head in agreement to Adam's offer. Su thought seriously about it for a moment, and then said, "I'm not sure. Are curses good to eat? I don't want to miss out on anything that might be tasty?"

Sarah immediately fell off her chair. "No, Su!" she yelled. "Curses are not good to eat!"

Adam almost face-faulted himself over Su's response; apparently her grasp of Japanese wasn't so hot. "Kaolla," he said. "In your language, the word for curse is _ishmar_, and you know that _ishmarin_ are not tasty."

"Oh," she said in disappointment. "Well, why didn't you just say so to begin with? I don't want a… curse?... put on me, so I'll stay out of your room."

"Good enough," he agreed. "I'm sure my little friend will be happy as well."

Shinobu returned with a large bowl of rice and a second teapot and then joined the group for breakfast. After the food was passed around and everyone had begun eating, the usual friendly chatter started. Keitaro, being preoccupied with his thoughts over that morning's events, was quiet. Motoko, as usual, mostly kept to herself, although Keitaro did notice that she was throwing occasional glances at his uncle. Adam, he noticed, was speaking quietly to Kitsune and casting curious glances at Naru, who was focused on a conversation that she was having with Mutsumi. Keitaro looked down at the remainder of his food and decided that he wasn't very hungry anymore. It would be at least two hours before Haruka would be free enough to talk with him. As far as studying went… it wasn't going to happen. Maybe there was something he could do around the dorms, such as waxing the floors.

He was about to get to his feet when Su, having finished her meal, suddenly leaped onto his uncle's back and hung her head over his shoulder. She said something in a language that Keitaro was unable to understand and was answered by his uncle in kind. He decided to wait and see what was going on. Motoko also watched the scene curiously.

Adam was enjoying his conversation with Kitsune which, for her part, consisted mostly of flirting and innuendo, much to Naru's disgust. He was about to ask her some specifics about her writing career, when Su pounced on his back. He looked up at her as she peered over his shoulder.

"Hey, Adam," she said in her native language. "How did you know that I am from Molmol? That's supposed to be a secret."

Adam replied in the same language, "Grandma Hina, of course, knows about you and she occasionally sent me on errands to your family there. Besides your father and mothers, I've met your sister Amalla, and your cousin and adopted brother Lamba Lu, who looks a lot like my cousin Keitaro sitting over there. I picked up some of the language while I was visiting there.

"So you know my family?"

"Yes, I do. I was sorry to hear about your father passing last year. I think that Lamba will make a good king. Don't worry, Kaolla, I won't tell anyone your secret - unless you destroy my room again."

"Aye aye, Captain!" she said in Japanese with a salute and a big smile. "I've got you covered." Jumping off of Adam's back, she grabbed Sarah's hand and pulled her away from the table. "Come on Sarah. I've got a new mecha I want to show you," she said as she dragged her friend up the stairs behind her. Sarah grumbled something about not having finished her coffee yet.

"Well, that was interesting," Keitaro said quietly to Motoko as his uncle got up from the table and started collecting some of the dirty dishes. As he headed into the kitchen, Keitaro grabbed an arm load of dirties and followed him. When he arrived, he saw a stack of dirty dishes on the counter near the sink, but his uncle had vanished.

Shaking his head in confusion, Keitaro went back into the dining room and looked at Motoko and Shinobu, who were finishing with their tea. "Did either of you see Uncle Adam come through this way?" he asked them.

"No, Sempai," Shinobu said. Motoko shook her head negative.

"Well," Keitaro said, "He seems to have vanished from the kitchen." He shrugged his shoulders. "I've got some chores to do so I'll see you later."

As Keitaro left the room, Motoko and Shinobu collected the rest of the dirties and the leftover food and took them into the kitchen. Motoko looked around the room carefully, but there was no trace of Adam Urashima. _That sneak_, Motoko thought. _And I was waiting around to talk to him about the last few days. I guess I'll have to catch him later._

OOO

Several hours later, Haruka finished emailing her last encrypted report on the demon battle that had occurred earlier in the day. A copy had been sent to the Elders and another to a secure site accessible to Hina. For Hina, she had included her notes on Keitaro and also about Adam's reservations about taking on Keitaro as a pupil.

As soon as her last breakfast customer had left the shop, Haruka had locked up and begun typing up her report. She wasn't too happy about having to take credit for slacking off on the inspections after Keitaro had arrived as manager, but fair was fair. The Council needed to be informed about the attempted break-in so they would be watching the other storage sites for similar attempts. Maybe they could catch the culprits – the humans responsible for summoning the demons.

After finishing her emails, Haruka opened a large safe that she had secreted in a back room and pulled out a notebook. She flipped open a divider to the section where she kept her notes on the spells used for the warding stones. After spending about twenty minutes in refreshing her memory and considering possible ways of strengthening the spells, she began to randomly flip through other sections of the notebook, hoping to find some inspiration.

Finding a section dealing with novelty and prank spells, Haruka suddenly found herself slapped in the face by the inspiration for which she had been searching. Staring at the page for a moment, she began to giggle. Haruka hated it when she giggled, because she sounded just like a school girl. Nevertheless, she giggled and felt justified in so doing.

"Let's see," she said with a big smile on her face. "If I combine that security spell from earlier with this prank spell here…" Her smile got even wider. "And if I supercharge it with the earth tap spell…"

OOO

Keitaro found himself trudging down the stairs towards Aunt Haruka's teahouse for the second time that morning. Now that he had had some time to think about things, he was hoping that Haruka could give him some insight into what his options might be. He supposed that he could talk to Uncle Adam, but he hadn't seen him in a couple of years and he had always been closer to Haruka.

When he arrived at the teashop he found the front door locked, so he went around to the side door and knocked on it. He had to knock twice before he got a response. When the door opened, Haruka stared at him for a moment and then she sighed. "How did I just know that you would be back again so soon?"

Keitaro flushed in embarrassment and said, "After this morning, I definitely need some more advice."

"Alright," she said. "Come on in and have a seat. I'll get us some tea."

After fetching two cups and a teapot, Haruka had a seat at the table with Keitaro. "I assume that this has something to do with the demon attack this morning?" she said.

"Yes, it does," Keitaro replied.

"Are you planning on quitting the Hinata Inn?" she asked.

Keitaro looked at her for a moment as he organized his thoughts. "I thought about it for a few minutes," he said quietly. "I'm just a regular guy who had maybe a little bit of training about fighting demons years ago that I can no longer remember. Having what happened this morning occur… well, it was never part of my plans or my world view. Why would I even consider dealing with demons? So, this morning was a major shock to me. And yes, I did consider quitting… for about three minutes."

Haruka took a sip of her tea and watched him carefully.

"But," Keitaro said while looking her in the eye. "I agreed to take care of Hinata House and its residents – and I've become very attached to the girls, even though they aren't always happy with me."

Haruka chose to ignore the blatant understatement and instead lit up a cigarette.

"This morning has thrown me into a hard spot," he continued. "I have responsibilities here, so I can't just run away; yet I don't know how to handle this new… world?... that I've suddenly been tossed into. I really don't know what to do right now. I was hoping that you would have some suggestions for me."

She blew a plume of smoke as she thought. "So," she said. "If I understand you correctly, you are not planning on leaving Hinata House and you're intending to take your responsibilities seriously. Is that correct?"

"Yes, it is," he replied.

"Are you certain about this? The Family will be depending on you and will expect you to do your best. They don't expect perfection, but they do expect your best effort."

Keitaro gathered his resolve and looked her in the eye. "I'm certain."

"Okay, then," she said. "First off, today was a very unusual day. While you should always be vigilant, it is highly unlikely that there will be another attack any time soon. If our warding shield hadn't been compromised then there probably wouldn't have been an attempt today. You should have more than enough time to get some adequate training under your belt before any kind of a repeat performance is needed. However, that is a guess only."

Keitaro nodded his head in understanding.

"As you've been told, maintaining the wards is of primary importance. It is your first line of defense and it is a very powerful one. I will also be working on strengthening the wards in a few days when I have the patterns and mechanics arranged adequately."

Keitaro nodded again.

"As far as training you goes, for the moment it's going to be rather half-hazard. We really can't afford to send you away for formal training right now; and if we did it would screw up your chances of getting into Toudai for some time. It's best if you receive any training here. I can teach you a few things that will help but, frankly, I'm a lousy teacher. My patience is limited. I might also be able to teach you about firearms later."

Keitaro quietly sweat-dropped; he wasn't too sure about weapons training.

"Adam happens to be an excellent instructor and I believe that he was approached about taking you on as a student. The thing is: Adam will only teach people who want to learn and will put forth the required effort. If a student isn't interested in learning, then neither is Adam willing to teach him. No exceptions. Zilch. None. I understand that he has already attempted to teach you in the past."

Keitaro hung his head at the memory. "Yeah, he did," he admitted. "I wasn't interested in learning the arts at the time and I'm afraid that he finally gave up in frustration. He did manage to work me through the initiation, for which I'll always be grateful. Without it subconsciously harnessing my ki energies, I would have been killed several times already, especially after moving here to Hinata House."

"Well, he's currently your best bet as an instructor. Unfortunately, you already have a poor history with him that you're going to have to work around. Why don't you just ask him if he would be willing to instruct you, and then explain to him that this time you are willing to put the required effort into the learning. I'll bet that he'll be happy to take you on as a student."

Keitaro rubbed the back of his head as he thought things over. "I guess that makes sense. What things will I need to learn, so I know what questions to ask and what to expect?"

Haruka took a puff off of her ever-present cigarette, and then she gave him a direct look. "You're going to need to learn more about the family history and traditions, and something about its political alignments with certain other families. You're going to need some basic knowledge about simple magic to begin with, and probably get a better understanding down the road when you have more time. You'll need to know something about demons and other magical beings. You'll also need some weapons training so you can defend yourself and others against these beings."

"That's a lot to learn, Keitaro complained.

"Get used to it," Haruka said without any sympathy. "You'll be learning new things for the rest of your life. When you stop learning, you die. Did you think that you were somehow entitled to receive the Family hotel and grounds for nothing in return? The price you pay is in having to protect and to improve it. To do this you need specialized knowledge. Acquiring that knowledge and putting it to use is part of that price."

Keitaro wilted a little as he listened to his aunt. Then he gathered his resolve again and sat up straighter. "If that's what I need to do, then I'll do it," he said.

"Good enough," she replied. "Now… if you will kindly get lost, I have to get ready for my lunch customers."

He smiled as he got to his feet. "Sure. Talk to you later."

OOO

Adam dropped his light shield after he had sneaked out of the kitchen area. Apparently Mo-chan hadn't yet learned that the same technique that she sometimes used to conceal her katana could also be used to conceal a person. She had been just as easy as Keitaro was to get around.

He was very disappointed in Motoko at the moment. According to the information that he had gotten from Mom and Haruka, and the little that he had seen for himself since moving into the dormitory, Motoko had turned into quite the bully where males were concerned. He hoped that she developed some better self-control before her sister found out. Tsuruko would probably give her a few good lumps over it. In the mean time, it wasn't really his business to interfere.

But he still wasn't very happy with her and he was intending to avoid her for the time being. Niiko had said some interesting things about her and he knew that Motoko was planning on seeking him out. He figured he'd have some fun with her by frustrating her attempts to talk to him. He'd always enjoyed "hide and seek." He hoped that Motoko still did. Adam solidly locked down his ki energy so that Motoko couldn't use it to track him.

He decided to check on the two bridges that were supposed to have been repaired. There were actually four bridges on the property for which he was responsible. One crossed the river behind the dormitory and led to the twelve hundred and eighty-odd acres of woods, meadows, and mountain property that he had inherited, along with their secrets. The second was a covered bridge that crossed the river and ended up against the mountain, where a wood-covered tunnel entrance existed. These were the two bridges that were to have been repaired.

The third bridge crossed the river and led to the old hotel annex building that was now totally off limits to everyone. This building was considered to be too dangerous and unusable, not because it had been condemned as structurally unsound, but because there was a curse upon it that forced people to fall in love with each other. The curse also preserved the building and the bridge leading to it from any kind of decay. This was one of the structures that had been placed into Adam's hands for safekeeping.

The fourth bridge was an older foot bridge made of stone that was still in excellent condition. It crossed the river near the annex bridge and led to a narrow mountain hiking path.

He left the dormitory through the side door that he had used earlier and headed behind the garage building to the northeastern side of the hotel property.

The river looped around the dormitory coming in from the west side and curved northwest and north around the complex before falling into the larger river that flowed through the town of Hinata Hot Springs. On the north side of the river was a mountain side that abruptly climbed above the residential complex. The mountain rapidly descended to the northwest until it vanished into the woods and meadows on the west side of the river.

The first bridge that Adam came across while walking westward, was the freshly repaired one that led directly up to the mountainside and the sealed tunnel there. The next one was the annex bridge. The annex building sat on a wide shelf and was almost nestled up against the mountain, right where the river began curving towards the west and southwest. He could easily feel the curse as he walked by the end of the bridge, which was blocked by a chain and a warning sign. He stopped for a moment and gazed at the old structure.

Niiko suddenly appeared next to him and looked suspiciously at the building. "There is some serious creepiness there, Master," she commented. "What's wrong with that place?"

Adam glanced at her then looked sadly back at the building. "This used to be the most beautiful part of the Hinata Inn, up until about thirty-five years ago. It was a special hotel section that was used to house very important guests. The Family doesn't know when it happened or who did it, but a very powerful curse was placed upon the building. Nobody noticed it at first, other than sometimes guests would seem to fall madly in love with each other. This was generally considered as a good thing… at first. Eventually the annex's reputation for finding love mates spread, and many powerful people came just in the hopes of finding their 'soul mate.' Apparently, each time the curse successfully united a couple, its power and ability increased. Soon it was creating same-gender couples out of people who had been 'straight' up until then, causing personal and political difficulties for the victims. When it was finally realized that a curse was involved, the Family closed down the annex. They were never able to find a cure for its illness. So now a beautiful building sits empty; not even allowed a peaceful death in its sleep."

He looked away from the structure and noticed that Niiko was now looking intensely at the building. "You know, Master," she began. "There are many unhappy spirits wandering through that building?"

"Yes," he replied. "I expect there are. I've never been in there; it was closed off before I was even born. However, I can sense some of them even from here. You see, the curse was only interested in forcing couples together. It didn't care what the respective genders were or if the victims were already happily married to other people. This led to some soul shattering experiences; some ending in suicide or of some people just giving up on life. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the curse has somehow enslaved its victims and forced them back to itself upon their deaths, however that may have occurred. I wish it were possible to cleanse the building and to release the spirits to be on their way, but it's too dangerous to enter."

He shrugged his shoulders and then started walking again. Niiko fell in beside him. Shortly, they passed by the stone foot bridge. They walked quietly together until they got to the fourth bridge, which had also been repaired, and began to cross it.

"What are you going to do about the kitsune spirit, Master?" Niiko asked quietly. "I know that you've sensed her."

"Nothing for now," he replied. "You know that I don't usually go out of my way to bother yōkai unless there is a very good reason. I'll observe this one for a while to see what her intent is. If she is hazardous, she'll be removed. The Family doesn't tolerate dangerous beings in its territory."

"What about me, Master?"

"I know you can be dangerous, but you also have good control over yourself and you're not a berserker. The only time that I've known you to attack someone unwarranted, was when you were ordered to do so by that disgusting Bon priest that used to own and control you. I'm totally comfortable with having you around."

Niiko stretched up and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Thank you, Master… for saving me from that nasty man, and for still wanting me around even though he made me do some bad things."

Adam stopped and put his hand on her head, ruffling her hair for a moment as he smiled fondly at her. "You're welcome." He paused for a moment and then asked, "What are you going to do today?"

She gave him a slightly "off" smile and said, "I'm going to keep an eye on that fox spirit." With that being said, she gave a wave of her hand, turned around, and re-crossed the bridge. When she stepped off the last wooden plank, she faded away and vanished.

Adam shook his head and grinned to himself as he turned back towards the woods. He had only taken a single step forward when he caught a movement out of the upper corner of his eye. When he glanced back and upwards he saw a small, dark object which was growing larger as it sped towards him, followed by the sound like flapping cloth. The thing was obviously not under power, as it appeared to be coasting in on a ballistic course and was rapidly dropping towards him at about a 45 degree angle.

_Ah, CRAP!_

At the last moment, Adam saw that the object was Keitaro as his nephew plowed into the energetically flowing river just downstream from the waterfall. A huge plume of water jetted from the impact site and Adam had to quickly dance backwards and sideways to avoid being doused by the cold spume.

After a moment, Adam put his hands into his front pockets and wandered over to river bank where a stunned Keitaro was bobbing face-up on the surface like a float attached to a fishing line. Soon, awareness returned to his eyes and he righted himself and carefully swam to shore. After pulling himself up onto the dry land, he stood there shivering and looking woebegone and bedraggled.

OOO

Motoko was royally pissed… to put it mildly. How dare that Urashima… male… push her down and violate her lips! Oh, was he going to pay when she caught up to him. She gripped her katana until her knuckles were white. She was running at nearly her top speed and using her ki energy to accelerate herself past that of any normal human.

Keitaro had been flying towards the waterfall… that's where she'd catch up to him. And then…!

This was the third time that her lips had been assaulted: first by that mechanical contraption of Su's, then by Su herself, and now by that disgusting, perverted Urashima. So much for romantic first kisses; something precious had been taken from her _again_, and this time the thief would atone for the theft!

Looking upwards, she could just make out the dark shape of Keitaro as he arced over in the sky and began falling towards the river. Motoko redoubled her speed and raced towards the falls.

She arrived as Keitaro crashed into the water just a little south of the falls. She used up her residual speed by skipping across some of the rocks sticking out of the water and landing dryly upon the far side river bank. As she stalked towards the spot where Keitaro had gone into the water, Motoko was so concentrated on her target that she unknowingly put her foot down on a wet, mossy stone. With a muffled thump, Motoko slipped and fell into a clump of bushes, much to her disgust with herself. The impact also stunned her for a moment. When she was able to sit up, she suddenly spotted Adam Urashima approaching the river bank. She decided to remain concealed and to see what this new Urashima male was up to now!

Motoko concentrated on increasing the sensitivity of her hearing as Keitaro climbed out of the river and stood miserably on the bank under his uncle's scrutiny.

"So, Keitaro," Adam said after eyeing him over for any lingering injuries. "Where did you find an artillery piece big enough to launch your ass all the way over here? I didn't think we had any large field mortars left in the armory."

Keitaro blushed and looked down at his feet. "Well, you see… I didn't mean to, you understand," he fudged. "But I sort of … I accidentally kissed Motoko!"

Adam stared incredulously at him, and then he slowly blinked twice. After a time his eyes slowly tracked downwards until they settled on Keitaro's crotch. There didn't seem to be any bleeding there. "Well," he said after looking back up at Keitaro's face. "To use an old nautical expression: she seems to have left your wedding tackle in one piece… at least for the moment."

Keitaro considered that statement for a moment and then his flushed face turned pale. "Uh, you don't think that she'll hold a grudge, do you?"

"This is Motoko _Aoyama_ we're talking about... right?" Adam replied. "A little bit taller than you; long black hair and dark olive eyes; usually wearing a red hakama and a white gi; and likes waving her katana about on occasion? Not too happy with the male gender? That Motoko?"

Keitaro winced. "I guess that was a silly question, wasn't it?"

Adam just nodded at him, and then asked, "What could possibly have possessed you to 'accidentally' kiss Motoko? I thought you were already busy romancing both that Narusegawa woman and cousin Mutsumi. Isn't going after three women at once sort of asking for trouble? I mean, women do have this strange tendency to frown on their men two-timing them or, in this case, three-timing them."

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Keitaro objected. "I was going down the stairs and tripped. Motoko was at the bottom of the staircase and I landed on top of her. Our lips just happened to meet. I never intended to kiss her!"

"According to Haruka," Adam said. "You've been having a lot of these tripping accidents. Now, everyone has accidents; its part of being human. But I don't recall you tripping over everything when we were younger. So what's going on with you now? Why have you suddenly become so clumsy?"

Motoko shifted quietly within her concealing bushes, waiting on Keitaro's answer. Her left ankle was beginning to ache where she had twisted it upon falling.

Keitaro looked at his uncle and then down at the ground. "I'm not really sure," he said after a moment. "It started about two years ago, and it's been getting worse recently. And it's not just the tripping. I always seem to open a door at the wrong moment, or walk into a room and see something that I shouldn't see. I know the girls think that I'm doing it deliberately, and they pound me for it, but I swear that I'm not!"

Adam was observing Keitaro closely and it seemed as if his nephew was telling him the truth, at least as he saw it. "Have you been distracted by anything major during this time?" he asked, already knowing at least part of the answer. Keitaro had been distracted for years.

"Well," he said looking at his uncle. "I'm constantly thinking about my studies for Tokyo U or worrying about an upcoming test. That's pretty stressful and sometimes that's all I can think about. And sometimes I get really nervous around the girls. I've made so many mistakes around them, and been 'punished' so often for them, that I get distracted and then I have an accident anyway."

Adam looked at the sky for a moment, and then he looked back at his nephew. "Would you like some advice?" he asked.

Keitaro nodded. "Yes, I would," he said.

"You know how to drive a car, although you probably don't have much experience driving. Correct?"

"That's right," Keitaro answered.

"Tell me. If you were driving a car down the street, would you just ignore what you were doing and what was going on around you?"

"Of course not," Keitaro replied in a puzzled voice.

"Of course not," Adam echoed. "You'd get into an accident real fast. You'd be nothing but a dangerous 4,000 pound battering ram looking to injure or kill someone, perhaps even yourself. Yet, to a lesser extent, that's similar to what you do when you're walking around not really paying attention to what you're doing or what's going on around you."

Keitaro started to protest and Adam quickly held up his hand to silence him.

"When you trip and fall down, how many times do you involve someone else in your accident?"

Keitaro stared at him then said, "Not always, but probably most of the time." He looked away in embarrassment.

"Using today as an example, you probably weren't thinking about where you were putting your feet and tripped. You likely weigh more than Motoko does. If you had struck her the wrong way with your body, you both could have been injured. You said you landed on her and 'locked lips?'"

Keitaro nodded.

"What if you two had smacked teeth instead of just touching lips?"

Keitaro went pale again.

"The thing is that there's no reason for you to be tripping if you are paying attention to things rather than being lost in your thoughts. That's hazardous to yourself and to the others around you."

"But I couldn't really help myself from being distracted. I kept thinking about those demons attacking this morning and what I should do about it!"

Motoko's ears perked up when she heard about demons attacking. She rubbed her ankle and concentrated more on hearing the conversation better.

"I understand that, but you could still have been paying attention to your feet as you went down the stairs. And when you 'open doors at the wrong time' are you knocking first or are you just opening the doors while your mind is distracted elsewhere?"

"Well," Keitaro hedged, seeing where this was going. "Sometimes I just open the door and sometimes I knock first."

"You do understand that if a door is closed it usually implies that at least one person is seeking and expecting some privacy? Knocking is not a technicality that you just do as you're flinging the door open. You might want to stop at any closed door, knock loudly, and count slowly to five while consciously listening for an answer; even if you think that nobody's there. I'll bet that if you start fully paying attention to what you're doing and to your surroundings that most of your accidents will disappear and your relationship with the girls will also improve. Anyway, that's my advice. You're welcome to use it or to ignore it, as you please."

"Oh, and one other thing," Adam said. "You might want to apologize to Motoko. You may not have intended to injure her but you did knock her down, and you might want to find her before she finds you. If she has to chase you down it will only excite her more. You know how adrenaline rushes work. You're more likely to get hurt if she's on an adrenaline high."

Keitaro nodded. A cool breeze whipped by and Keitaro shivered in his damp clothing.

Adam noticed the shivering. "You did well with the techniques that I gave you at the warding stones this morning. Would you like to try another one that should warm your body up?"

Keitaro shivered and nodded. He wrapped his arms tighter about himself. "That would help," he said.

"This is a discipline called 'Tumo,'" Adam said. "Basically, it encourages your body to produce significantly more heat. Adepts of Tumo are able to sit naked in snow banks, and not only do they produce enough heat to stay comfortably warm but to also melt the snow surrounding them. That takes a lot of practice, but you should be able to produce enough warmth to stay comfortable."

Keitaro nodded his head in understanding.

"The Tumo technique is divided into two exercises," Adam continued. "The first exercise, which the Chinese call 'bottle breath,' is a practice method for learning how to draw the proper energy into your body. Since you are already able to draw adequate energy into your body, I'll skip over this exercise. We'll come back to it later if you're not able to do the second exercise without this preliminary training. This second part is the 'meat and potatoes' part of Tumo. I want you to close your eyes and relax. Visualize your body. Now, imagine that every single cell in your body – every single one, is a small sun radiating heat into your body. Take slow, deep breaths. As you inhale imagine that energy is being sucked into each cell from a source behind it. On each exhalation, imagine that this energy is flowing as heat outward from each cell and into your body. Feel the warmth increase in your body. Now, continue doing this for a few minutes."

Adam continued to observe Keitaro as he worked on the breathing and visualization exercise. After about two minutes, he noticed that Keitaro had stopped shivering and his skin was beginning to "pink up." _Very good._

While his nephew was immersed in his breathing, Adam decided to relax for a moment. He let a trickle of his ki energy out to scout the area, which was a survival habit that he had developed years earlier. Almost immediately his energy pinged off of a major life force source concealed in a clump of bushes about sixty feet upriver from his position. It took him a few seconds to recognize the ki signature as that of Motoko.

Adam smiled to himself. _I'll bet she was tracking Keitaro. As to how she got into the bushes without my knowing it… I guess I must be getting sloppy! Consider myself slapped. Twice! Hmmm, and add a butt kicking as well._

He returned his attention back to Keitaro. After about three more minutes, he cleared his throat. "That's enough for now," he said. "How are you feeling?"

Keitaro opened his eyes and gave him a big smile. "I'm feeling nice and warm and full of energy!" he said. "I think that my clothes are also beginning to dry. This is great!"

Adam returned the smile. "Since this is your first time, the heat will probably fade away in a little while. If you keep practicing, eventually you'll train your body to produce sufficient heat without even thinking about it. You might want to head back to the inn now while you're still warm."

"Thank you for the lesson and the advice, Uncle… I mean, Adam."

Momentarily Keitaro shifted his weight from foot to foot; hesitating to broach the subject that was on his mind. Finally, he took a breath and said, "Umm, Adam, I'd like to ask a big favor from you."

"What do you need?" Adam asked quietly, more or less expecting what was coming.

"After what happened this morning… well, I now realize the importance of… I mean, would you please teach me what I need to know to take care of this place. I promise that this time I will stick to the training and pay attention to the instructions."

Adam locked eyes with Keitaro and silently studied him for about thirty seconds. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, why not? As long as you stick to the training, I'll be happy to instruct you."

Keitaro returned a big smile to his uncle. "Thank you. I meant it when I said that I'll stick to it this time. Well, I guess I had better head back. See you at lunch," he said as he headed across the bridge.

Adam watched him leave and then his smile became a little lopsided. _I wonder what I've let myself in for? Oh well… It's time for the next item of business: teasing Mo-chan._

Motoko had been watching Keitaro as he walked across the wooden bridge. When she looked back, she saw that Adam Urashima had disappeared again. _Damn, he's fast_, she thought as she attempted to get to her feet. When she put her weight on her left ankle, it collapsed out from under her and she sat back down with a solid thump and a curse.

"Is your ankle sprained?" a voice asked suddenly from right next to her. Motoko almost jumped out of her skin. Her head spun around and she saw that Adam was sitting cross-legged on the ground only four feet away.

"What are you doing there?" she said in surprise, and some anger at the scare that she had just received.

"I noticed that you were hanging-out here earlier," he said. "And I thought that I would be polite and see how you were doing."

Motoko started to blush red with embarrassment over the fact that she had been caught spying. "I'm doing just fine!" she said and attempted to get up. A moment later and she was again thumping her rear-end on the ground.

"May I take a look at your left ankle?" Adam asked; expecting the coming outburst from Motoko.

"I already told you that I'm fine!" Motoko said angrily. "I can take care of myself. I don't need some… male… to help me!"

"I'm sure that you are more than capable of taking care of yourself," Adam replied patiently. "But there is no reason for you to automatically refuse help when it is offered to you, either. You have an injury, and there is no reason to make it worse just to prove to someone else that you can tolerate the pain."

"I'm not trying to prove anything… especially to a male! I told you that I'm fine!"

Adam looked directly into her angry grey eyes. Motoko glared back but she saw that he was neither intimidated nor deceived by her declaration.

"Aoyama-san," he said sternly. "You're a member of the Shinmei-ryu; in fact, you're the 'heir apparent.' What did the Gods' Cry School teach you about warrior ethics where it comes to simple injuries?"

Motoko stared at him. _How did he know…?_ She started to give him an angry reply, but then she paused and thought about what he had just asked her. Her instructors at the school had been very clear on the matter. If a warrior was actively in combat or his/her skills might be needed almost immediately, minor injuries were to receive only basic treatment and then were to be ignored as much as possible. It was assumed that a warrior could deal with the pain. At any other time, minor injuries were to be treated as quickly as possible and were to be protected from receiving any additional damage. More damage meant a longer healing time and the more time that other warriors would have to cover for the injured one. Also, what was originally a minor injury could also become a permanent condition if not treated properly. It was considered both as honorable and required for other warriors to give assistance to their fellow warriors who were injured.

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Motoko looked at Adam. "I get your point," she said stiffly.

"Okay then," he said. "Let me get a look at your ankle."

Motoko shifted on her hip and brought her left foot around until it was pointing at him. She looked away as he moved closer to her.

Adam pushed her red hakama up her leg about a foot and then pulled down her sock, exposing her ankle. He could see that it appeared to be quite swollen; which was nature's way of splinting an injured joint. He didn't bother putting any pressure on the ankle or experiment with moving it about.

"I need to see your other ankle so I can compare the two," he said.

Silently, she brought her other ankle around. Adam pulled down that sock and compared them. The left ankle was swollen to almost twice the size of the right one. He pulled the sock back up.

"We need to get you back to Hinata House and get some elevation and ice on this ankle. Here, let me help you up," he said while extending his hand.

"I don't need any assistance getting up!" she said, but she was now just going through the motions. Her ankle was definitely hurting her.

"Stop being silly," Adam chided her. "You just fell on your behind twice just a couple of minutes ago. You were here and watched yourself do it. So let's just get you on your feet so we can get going."

He extended his hand again and this time Motoko quietly took it. Once she was on her feet, with most of her weight on her right foot, Adam bent over.

"Hop aboard," he said. "You won't be walking or hobbling back."

She started to protest the indignity, but then she just sighed instead. She draped her arms over Adam's shoulders and brought them together across his chest. She could feel his muscles as she tightened her grip and rested her chin on his shoulder. Adam had previously retrieved her sheathed katana and had tucked it through the front of his belt. He now stood up straight and supported her thighs with his hands, with her legs sticking out past his sides. He began walking southwards along the river bank and was soon crossing the bridge.

Motoko was very tense at first, but when she saw that he wasn't going to take any liberties with her, she began to relax. The vibes that she was getting from him were comforting and non-threatening. Soon, she had shifted her head so that her chin was no longer resting on his shoulder, but the left side of her face had taken its place. It had been a long day for her. She had started out being short on sleep and then she had burned a lot of her energy while chasing after Urashima… Keitaro. Now that she wasn't moving about it was becoming difficult for her to stay awake… The steady tread of Adam's walking pace; his comforting vibes; the warmth radiating into her where their bodies made contact… Slowly her eyes began to close and her grip about his chest grew lighter. A moment later, her consciousness faded away.

They were almost back to the inn, when Adam noticed that Motoko's breathing patterns had changed. Soon she was making very light snoring sounds near his ear.

_Well, I'll be damned_, Adam thought to himself.

End of Chapter.

A/N: About the Bon priest that Niiko had served – the Bon "religion" is a pre-Buddhist, shamanistic religion practiced by some of the Tibetans. Unlike most of the various shamanistic groups around the world, the Bon variant delves heavily into demon worship, necromancy, and the darker arts, although not exclusively. They are the Eastern equivalent to the Satanists in the West, and for many of the same reasons: power or perceived power.

Thanks for reading.


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